the 2024 Winter Championship season is well underway with our Men looking to defend their title, while our Women look to continue to build on a great 2023 campaign that nearly saw us take out the both titles.
Heading into round 4 our Men were sitting 2 and 1 and looking to win their third in a row against a much improved Surfcoasters team from years past.
After a rough start to the season with a close loss to Lara 90-97, the Men were able to exorcise their demons from the Summer Grand Final with a big 35 point win over Try Boys, in which the Bears never looked close to touching the high octane offence of the Men. Max Kos was the star in this game as he poured in a game high 32, of which 24 came within the first quarter.
The Men followed this up with another great win against their Summer season semi-final matchup in which a last second heroic three from Kos saw Pivot advance. No such shot was needed in this one as the Men ran away 98-69 victors to keep them in good stead of the top 4. Once again Kos was on fire in this game with a team high 23, while former Pivot Junior Evan Juros had a breakout game with 21 to help the side to victory.
Heading into round 4 looking to push their way to the top of the ladder, Pivot started out hot against the Coasters jumping out to a 9 point lead at the quarter time break. A balanced scoring attack was thwarted in the second quarter as the Coasters were able to close the gap to even the score at 45 each with one half remaining.
Struggling from the field in the third, Pivot saw themselves in a 5 point hole with 10 to play as Coach O’Leary emplored the team to dig deep and pull the game back.
Some costly turnovers and crucial buckets from our Men saw us up 2 with just 10 seconds to go. A costly turnover saw the Coasters get the ball back with 7 seconds to play who utilised the 3 on 1 fastbreak to even up the score.
With minimal time left on the clock Pivot were unable to get a good look up seeing the game end in an 81-81 Draw. The first draw in a number of years for the team.
Currently sitting 4th on the ladder the team has some work to do to reclaim a top 2 spot on the ladder and gaurantee themselves an additional chance in required come finals time.
Ethan Blythe and Marach Marach led the way in this game with 19 and 18 respectively.
At this time round 5 fixtures are yet to be released.
Our Championship Women have embraced the youth this year with Ella Tofaeono and Eve Braslis both stepping away from the side for the 2024 Campaign. Going through somewhat of a rebuild the club is excited about the prospect of the new additions to the roster and are excited to see them and coach Matthew’s rise to the challenge in 2024.
Starting out their campaign against the Bears, our Women were spear-headed by young guns Evie Perez and Miley Dawkins who combined for 40 points in a tough opening round loss 55-72.
Looking to bounce back in round 2 the team poured it on the Surfcoast Women with a 116 to 47 point win to even up their season to a 1-1 record. Grace Spehar re-joined the team in this one and got off to an incredibly hot start dropping a huge 47 points of her own in the win. Miley Dawkins also contributed well with a 28 point performance.
A reality check followed in round 3 as the team went up against Last Years Champions in the Wildcats. Jasmine King and NBL1 Star Sarah Elsworthy did most of the damage in this one as the team fell 48-103 in an offensively challenging game for the young Pivot team.
Looking to bounce back from a tough loss in round 4, there was no rest for the weary as we lined up against the perennial finalist Sharks. Holding steady going into the half, the Women trailed by just 4, as they were able to mitigate Georgia Varley and Alex Duck, with the former coming off a game in which she scored an incredible 66 points just the week prior. Fading away in the second half the experienced Sharks veterans were able to put a 24 point buffer between them and Pivot as the final buzzer sounded.
Evie Perez was one of two in double digits for Pivot with 13 to her name.