With just two rounds to go and everything still to play for, both our Pivot City Championship teams hit the court in round 16 of Winter 2022. With the Women looking to maintain a top two finish and the men fighting to stay in the top 4 check out how they went in this weeks review below!
Championship Women
Lining up against 6th placed Surfcoasters, our Women were looking to extend their lead on third placed CC Eagles with an important win late in the season.
Coming in with only 4 regular players, Coach Brendan Matthews ‘once again called on the Pivot Youth to step up,’ and step up they did in what was a great game from the team.
Starting off slow the Pivot Women jumped out to a 6 point advantage but struggled to get points on the board only managing 14 through the first 10 minutes.
The cold AWA stadium clearly rubbed off on the team, however, in the second quarter they began to pick it up.
Taking an 18-point advantage into halftime the team looked comfortable as they settled into the match.
Unfortunately star Ever Braslis went down in the 3rd with an ankle injury, meaning that the team had to turn to another source of scoring.
‘When Eve went down with an ankle injury, the game plan changed which suited Raini (Matthews) who made the most of her opportunities from the arc.’
Clamping down on defence the team allowed just 22 points through 3 quarters and sat comfortably in the lead by 28 points.
The second half was dominated by Raini Matthews who top scored on the night with 21 points all coming from beyond the arc.
The final quarter saw the teams go back and forth before the final margin settled at 28, 65-37.
Eve Braslis through one half managed 17 points, while everyone else contributed well in hitting the scoreboard.
The team will look to knock off Sharks at 7pm next week in a 1v2 clash with Alex Duck, Georgia Varley and co, make sure you get down to AWA to support the team!
2nd v 3rd was always going to be a tough game, unfortunately, we struggled offensively in the first 3 quarters which saw us 20 points going into the last quarter. The message was defend and take good shots, we went on a 12-0 run to cut the deficit to 8 with 6 mins to go, we were in with a chance to upset CC eagles but they connected the next 4 trips down the court and pushed the lead out to 16 again. The team played well in patches which we can’t do if we want to progress further in the season, on a positive note it was great to see Tyler Earad find some shooting form, cheers Tim
CHAMPIONSHIP MEN
Our Men took the court at AWA in round 16 in a 2 v 3 matchup against the always tough CC Eagles. A win would see the team jump into second place, while a loss would see them be vulnerable in slipping to 4th.
Mirroring the Women’s game, the Men were slow out of the gate to start, unfortunately their opponent was quick to start and through the first 10 minutes jumped out to a 14 point lead, 14-29.
The second quarter saw the Men jump back to life to cut the lead to single digits as an even spread of scoring from the 7 available players made it tough for Christian College to get under Control.
Tim O’Leary saw the matchup up as being ‘always a tough game, unfortunately we struggled offensively in the first 3 quarters which saw us down 20 points going into the last quarter.
Heading into the fourth the Eagles had regained most of their momentum behind a 28-14 run that was ultimately too much for Pivot to overcome.
Rounding out the 4th the Men managed to claw back to the lead, ‘The message was defend and take good shots, we went on a 12-0 run to cut the deficit to 8 with 6 mins to go, we were in with a chance to upset CC eagles but they connected the next 4 trips down the court and pushed the lead out to 16 again.’
While it was a tough loss, coach O’Leary thought ‘the team played well in patches which we can’t do if we want to progress further in the season, on a positive note it was great to see Tyler Erard find some shooting form.’
Tyler led the way for the team with 24 while Max Kos and Jordan O’Leary both chipped in 14.
The team will look to next week in a must win game against the SG Kings who come hot off a 2 point win against the 5th placed Try Boys Bears. Get down to AWA and support the two teams as they head into the 2022 finals campaign!