Photo: Jacqui Neill
It was an early start for both our senior championship teams as they kicked off round 13 at AWA. With both teams sitting second on their respective ladders, a win would put the Women into certain finals contention, while the Men would need the crucial win to stay ahead of the pack. Check out how the teams went and how the coaches saw the game below!
Championship Women
Our Women have come away big winners in round 13, after they trounced YMCA in a long-standing club rivalry game. Starting out the game slow holding just a 5-point lead, coach Brendan Matthews ‘‘suggested at the quarter time that we should maybe run some Sprints (them not me) but they seemed uninterested in that.’’
The team cleaned up their act in the second quarter and was able to push the lead out to double digits, leading by 12 with 20 minutes to play.
‘’ With Cass and Vanessa unavailable tonight it gave us another opportunity to get some minutes into a couple of pivot juniors and I’m sure they enjoyed the experience.’’
Led by NBL1 talent Eve Braslis, the Women picked up further in the second half to balloon their lead to 19.
‘’ We cleaned things up after the break and managed some good stops and got the ball through hands on offence to finish the game with 4 players in double figures. The paint was well controlled by Eve which created good opportunities for her teammates at each end.’’
As the buzzer sounded the team had amassed a nice 35-point lead to clean up a 86-51 victory.
Eve Braslis backed up her 47-point outing last week with 36 to lead all scorers, while Paris Kevric and Raini Matthews contributed 17 and 13 each.
The team will face 3rd place CC Eagles next Tuesday at 7 pm, where they will look to get another important win under their belt.
Championship Men
Our Championship Men have come away with a quality win against Vytis in round 13. After a delayed start due to a shortage of Vytis players, the men jump-started the first quarter before slowing down to lead by just 4 at the break.
Keeping it close throughout the second quarter, the hot shooting from James Osborne kept them within striking distance as Pivot held a 9-point advantage heading into the half-time break.
With some wise words from Coach Tim O’Leary, the team got on their bike and were able to increase the lead by three-quarter time to 14.
Switching to man defence for the final 10, Pivot clamped up the shorthanded knights to the tune of 15 unanswered points to create a more than comfortable gap to take home the win, 95-66. Here below from coach O’Leary on how he saw the game:
‘’ Pivot (2nd) versed Vytis (8th). With the end result a 29 point win to Pivot. In saying that Pivot only broke the shackles in the last quarter. Vytis were well serviced by Steve Wiasak (16 pts ) Romas Liebich ( 15 pts ) and sharpshooter James Osbourne (21pts. 7×3’s). Pivot’s deep bench was to much for Vytis to handle with Cohen Blythe leading the way with 36 points, Tyler Erard 21, and man of the match James Till grabbing 11pts.’’
The Men will look to next Tuesday night as they get their shot at rivals YMCA at 7pm.
With things heating up towards the end of the Winter season, why not get down and watch the NBL1 and Big V talent go to work? Entry is free and the Men and Women would love to see you down on the sidelines!