BIG V WRAP 11th & 12th May 2024
A statement win by our Championship Women on Sunday and an outstanding individual performance highlighted the weekends Storm Big V results.
YOUTH LEAGUE MEN
BELLARINE 79 lost to Wallan 85
(Mitch Smith 38 & 10, Harry Crane 15)
Whilst our Youth League Men came away without the points from Saturday’s contest with Wallan, there was still plenty to like from our performance across the game.
The first term was a pretty even battle with a few lead changes through the quarter, before Wallan inched ahead to lead by eight at the first break, before the Storm put together a very nice second period to erase the home sides lead and take their own two point advantage into the long break.
Unfortunately, the third quarter was where the game slipped from the grasp of the Storm, as Wallan pressed their case and ended up outscoring us by 13 points to regain the lead an hold an 11 point margin with one to play.
To the Storm’s credit, a comeback was launched in the last quarter, with the margin getting ack to just two points with one and a half minutes left in the game and and opportunity to pinch the win presented itself.
The pressure on both sides, with the game on the line was evident as neither side could find a basket for about another minute when Luke Cairns for Wallan made two successful trips to the foul line to extend their lead to six points.
Mich Smith fired back with a quick basket to make the margin four points, however, Cairns was sent back to the strip, where he converted both shots and Wallan were able to hold the Storm off.
Once again, Mitch Smith was the dominant force for the Storm, continuing his outstanding season with a big bag of 38n points for the game, breaking his own record for the highest Youth League Men individual score for the Storm, that he only set a few weeks ago.
YOUTH LEAGUE WOMEN
BELLARINE 92 d BLACKBURN 46
(Sienna Quinlan 24, Lucy Howard 19)
After last weeks shock loss to Surfcoast, our Youth League Women made Blackburn pay, by handing them a 46 point defeat on Sunday.
Bellarine dominated the game from beginning to end, gaining the early lead and not surrendering it for the whole match, leading by 17 at quarter time, extending that to 31 points at the half, 46 at the last break, cruising to a comfortable victory.
After a difficult day the previous weekend, Sienna Quinlan made every post a winner in this game, with a 24 point return for the afternoon, whilst Lucy Howard was also prominent with 19 points for the afternoon.
CHAMPIONSHIP MEN
SATURDAY
BELLARINE 88 d MELB UNI 82
(Lewie Varley 18, Nick Velasquez, Rohan Jarvie 17)
SUNDAY
BELLARINE 80 lost to KEYSBOROUGH 86
(Nick Velasquez 22, Kavione Green 15, Rohan Jarvie 15 & 10)
A mixed bag for our Championship Men across the weekend, starting off with a nice road victory against Melbourne Uni on Saturday night by 6 points.
Fresh from last Sunday’s big win against the previously undefeated Wyndham, Bellarine started the game well, establishing an early break, before the home side found their feet and closed to six points at quarter time.
The Black Angels turned the tables on Bellarine in the second term as they grabbed the lead back and then set about compiling their own four point advantage at the half time break.
Melbourne Uni managed to extend their lead to double figures two and a half into the third quarter, before the Storm launched a 21 to 11 run to the three quarter time siren and found themselves trailing by just two points with one to play.
There were three early lead changes at the beginning of the last as both teams tried to gain the upper hand. The third of those changes saw the Storm get their noses in front and maintain their advantage through to the end of the game, to collect back to back wins, with another game to come the following day.
On Sunday, we hosted Keysborough and it’s fair to say our two sides have had some fair battles across the last few years, so the expectations were that this would be a tough and physical contest, with both sides not wanting to give ground.
Bellarine kicked off the game in fine style and stunned the visitors in the opening quarter, outscoring the Cougars 25 to 8 by quarter time and looking like they were set to take control of this one.
However, you never write off the determination of Keysborough and on cue, they fought their way back into the contest in the second, outscoring the Storm 32 to 22, although still trailing by seven points at the main break.
The Storm pushed their lead out to double figures early into the third, before the Cougars began to fight back and whittle away the home sides lead, with A J Williams and Gerard Newby causing headaches for the Bellarine. Though, to the Storm’s credit, they were able to hang onto their lead by five points with one quarter remaining.
With the game there to win, Keysborough fought back to grab the lead again early in the final quarter, at which point, the Storm’s scoring output dried up completely, going 0 from 6 through the mid part of the term, giving the Cougars the opportunity to gain the advantage and set up an eight point advantage, holding Bellarine off for the remainder of the game, to collect a six point win.
CHAMPIONSHIP WOMEN
BELLARINE 63 d BULLEEN 57
(Bridgette Rettstatt 19, Courtney Strait 17)
The result of the weekend, was our Championship Women’s defeat of the previously undefeated Bulleen on Sunday afternoon at Storm HQ.
Storm jumped the Boomers before they even knew the game had started, with a 9-0 start to the first quarter before Bulleen worked their way into the contest to trail by three at quarter time.
Bellarine’s ‘big three’ in Bridgette Rettstatt, Courtney Strait and Chantelle Hall were making life tough for the visitors, as they contributed 22 of our 34 points for the half, whilst with Charlotte Armstrong, they were all over the glass at both ends.
With the smallest possible lead heading into the second half, the third quarter was all Storm as they set about dismantling any resistance from the Boomers as they had no answer to the Strait and Rettstatt show, the Storm pair scoring all but two of our 17 points for the term to take a big 12 point lead into the last.
Despite Bulleen outscoring the Storm in the last, the damage was already done, as Olivia Virt and Georgia Varley provided some different scoring options for the visitors to deal with down the stretch as the Storm were able to hold Bulleen off and record an impressive victory against a fellow top four side.
THIS WEEK
SATURDAY 18th MAY 2024
Championship Men
Bellarine v Sunbury @ Bellarine Sports Centre 5:30pm
Championship Women
Bellarine v Sunbury @ Bellarine Sports Centre 7:30pm
SUNDAY 19th May 2024
Youth League Men
Bellarine v Gippsland United @ Bellarine Sports Centre 12:00pm
Youth League Women
Bellarine v Mornington @ Bellarine Sports Centre 2:00pm