A big double header weekend in Round 13 of Big V Basketball was headlined by a great night of Women’s basketball on Saturday night.
Championship Men
Bellarine 83 lost to Camberwell 94
(Nathan Gronbeck 20, Max Kos 16)
At half time on Sunday, everything seemed to be working for our Championship Men, as they took a 13 point lead into the main break.
Max Kos stepped up in the first term, as acting Captain in the absence of Lewie Varley, to score 10 points in the opening term, with Nathan Gronbeck, Bryce Cashman and Rohan Jarvie also being prominent in their support.
The second term was all Storm as they outshot the opponents 48% to 18% for the term going in with the lead and looking like another win was possible.
However, Camberwell had other ideas and put their bad second term shooting behind them as they upped the pressure and tempo on the Storm, outscoring the 37 to 15 in the term to take the lead by 11 points with one to play.
To the Storm’s credit, they fought out the last term and matched their opponents output for the term, however, the task to erase the margin and get the win, proved to be just outside the Storm’s grasp.
Division 1 Women
Bellarine 82 d Craigieburn 74
(Georgia Varley 17, Chantelle Hall 15)
Saturday night’s Division 1 Women’s game was an absolute arm wrestle for four quarters against two contending teams.
Craigieburn, who defeated the Storm last time they met, set the tone early, scooting away to an early advantage by midway through the first term, before Bellarine steadied and narrowed the margin to just 4 points at the first break.
The second term proved to be just as tight as the first, with both sides going toe to toe on the scoreboard, with the Storm only able to peg back Craigieburn’s lead by 1 point at the half.
Chantelle Hall was proving to be a headache in the key for the Storm, being amongst the leading scorers with 11 for the half, with Lucy Howard coming off the bench to impact the game when injected into the contest.
It was a case of dejavu in the third term as neither side wanted to give an Inch and the contest stayed as tight as ever, the Storm managing to level the scores with a quarter to play.
An Alivia Osborne trey at the start of the last quarter earned the Storm the lead , however, the Eagles fought back as the lead changed hands a couple of times down the stretch and once again, it was Lucy Howard off the bench, scoring important baskets, when they were needed.
Her perfect trip to the line with just over a minute to play, gave her side the lead and from there, the Storm were able to steady and move to an I’m portent win in the context of the season.
Youth League 2 Men
Bellarine 77 lost to Whittlesea 84
(Ezekiel Rickard 24, Ben Walters 11)
A bit like the Champ Men’s game later in the day, things looked promising for our Youth League Men as they hosted Whittlesea on Sunday.
Having been on the end of a reasonably heavy loss to the Pacers at their place a few weeks ago, the Storm put that behind them and set the early running in the contest, jumping out to an early lead, before the visitors narrowed the scoreline to just 1 point at the first break.
Unfortunately, a second quarter lapse cost the Storm the lead and allowed the Pacers to move to a 6 point advantage at the half.
The Storm weren’t without their opportunities in the second term, however, their shots were just not dropping, with 3 of 18 shooting from the field, whereas their opponents didn’t really fare much better, going at 6 of 18 for the term, however, that was enough for the Pacers to lead by 6 points at the half.
Coming out with renewed enthusiasm in the their term, the Storm worked hard to work their way back into the contest and levelled the scoreline early doors via a Vinnie Whelan two, before Whittlesea edged ahead on a couple of occasions, only to be wound back by the Storm yet again but then steadying for a 10 point lead heading into the last.
One of the pleasing traits of our Youth League Men is their willingness to not give up at any stage and continue to fight out games to the end, regardless of the scoreline and that was the case on Sunday, as they continued to work hard to the line, eventually going down by 7 points.
Youth League Women
Saturday
Bellarine 57 d Mornington 56
(Sophie Tattersall 14, Summer Field 12)
Sunday
Bellarine 62 d Western Port 43
(Due to live stats fault, individual scorers not available at the time of going to press)
Saturday night’s game against Mornington was a superb advert for Women’s basketball, as the contest went right down to the wire, before the Storm snatched the win by 1 point.
Summer Field managed to snare the Storm’s opening 5 points for the game and got good support from Sophie Tattersall, scoring all of the Storm’s 11 first quarter points between them.
The second term was a real tug of war as both sides had their own surges before the other pegged it back, before the visitors got their noses in front by 5 points at the half.
Mornington threaten to take the challenge right up to the Storm in the third term, as they gained a small buffer midway through the term, before the Storm went 3 of 4 inside the last 2 minutes, compared to Mornington’s 1 of 3, to have us in the lead by 2 points with a quarter to play out.
In the last, it was a hard and tough battle to the line as Mornington continued to challenge down the stretch, eventually gaining the lead with less than a minute to play.
An Emily Benson 3 with 30 seconds left to play, got the Storm level pegging again, before Sarah Davenport went to the line with a chance to level scores again. Thankfully for the Storm, that trip to the line was split, however, that was enough to give the visitors the lead again.
Enter Ash Withers, who got the Storm back in front with 6 seconds left in the contest, before Madison Smith had one final chance to win it for the visitors, her shot not dropping, to give the Storm the win.
On Sunday, Summer field again was the early pacesetter scoring 12 points early in the game to set up a big lead by quarter time and from there, they were never headed, running out comfortable 19 point winners and now being in arms reach of locking in the minor premiership again this season.
THIS WEEKEND
SATURDAY 1st July 2023
YL2 Women
Bellarine v Albury/Wodonga @ Bellarine Secondary College 5:30pm
YL2 Men
Bellarine v Wangaratta North East @ Bellarine Secondary College 7:30pm
Championship Men
Bellarine v Keysborough @ Rowville Secondary College, Eastern Campus 8:00pm
SUNDAY 2nd July 2023
YL2 Women
Bellarine v Albury/Wodonga @ Bellarine Secondary College 12:00pm
D1 Women
Bellarine v Chelsea @ Patterson River Stadium 1:00pm