BIG V WRAP 10th August 2024
CHAMPIONSHIP WOMEN
BELLARINE 54 lost to BULLEEN 64
(Bridgette Rettstatt 21 & 18)
Despite making history by representing Bellarine Storm for the very first time in Finals at Championship level, the script didn’t really go to plan for our ladies against Bulleen as the Boomers took the honours in the Qualifying Final by 10 points.
It was a blistering start by the Storm as they went on a 9-0 run to start the game, stunning the opposition early, before they worked their way back into the contest however, still trailing by that 9 point buffer.
The second term saw things tighten up and the Boomers set about making inroads to reducing the Storm lead and eventually levelled things midway through the quarter but not being able to grab the lead before the half time break as the Storm held a four point advantage.
After half time, there was a bit of a momentum shift in the game as Bulleen continued to chip away at the Storm lead and finding it midway through the quarter, causing the contest to tighten right up, as both sides traded punches to the end of the term, the Boomers snatching the smallest of margins to lead the contest.
Sadly, the last term got away from the Storm as Bulleen sensed their chance and through the hot hand of Keli Romas down the stretch from outside the arc, we couldn’t get on a roll to gain control back to snatch the game.
We will now move on and focus on this weekend’s Semi-Final against Pakenham for an opportunity to advance to the Preliminary Final the following weekend.
YOUTH LEAGUE WOMEN
PRELIMINARY FINAL
BELLARINE 58 d SHERBROOKE 49
(Piper Copeland 14, Lucy Howard 13 & 12)
Our Youth League Women have certainly gone the scenic route to the Grand Final and have defied three elimination games to reach their third successive championship contest in as many years.
On Saturday night, they travelled to Sherbrooke to take on the Suns and after a slow start from both sides, it turned into a tight first quarter before the Storm edged in front by quarter time before we went into overdrive and put on a 16 to 5 second quarter, highlighted by a good spread of scoring options, to have one eye on a Grand Final berth at the half, leading by 13 points.
However, as we know in finals games, a game is never over until the opera singer gets up to belt out her tune and to no one’s surprise, the home side mounted their own charge to put in a super quarter of their own, outscoring us 15 to 8, although that still left them six points in arrears with one to play.
With a spot in the Grand Final up for grabs, Sherbrooke continued to nip at Bellarine’s heels and threatened to take the game right down to the wire, narrowing to 2 points when Olivia Kingston hit the two, drew the foul and converted with 3.30 to play.
From there, the shooting gods deserted the Suns as they went 1 of 7 for the remaining minutes, whilst the Storm were right on target dropping 4 of 7, including a clutch three pointer from Lucy Howard in the dying stages to thrust our ladies into this weeks Grand Final.
THIS WEEK
SATURDAY 17th August 2024
Grand Final
Youth League Women Bellarine v Western Port at Somerville Recreation Centre 6:00pm
Semi-Final
Championship Women Bellarine v Pakenham at Bellarine Secondary College 5:00pm