Written by Greg Jeffers
WOMEN's CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISON:
Bulleen (73) def Camberwell (50)
It feels a little like the Boomers are the rollercoaster team, up one week, and down the next, but Round 15 certainly an ‘up’ week as they jumped out of the blocks early to get control and never let go against the Dragons of Camberwell. The Boomers shared the minutes around giving plenty of opportunity, it was their regular big names taking control of the game early that did the damage. Romas, Baum, Van Es and Niven-Brown all causing trouble for Camberwell. For the Dragons, again to their credit they competed hard to finish the game out in the final quarter, only going down by 2 points, but outside the performances of Valos (20 points) and Fyffe (15 points) both shooting 7/15 from, the rest of the team shot 3/27, which unfortunately isn’t going to be enough.
The win means the Boomers have locked away a finals spot!
Belalrine (86) def McKinnon (66)
The Storm of Bellarine drove to McKinnon where they were challenged early, but managed to pull away for a victory, with a scoreline that appears a little unfair to McKinnon and not necessarily a true reflection of the game! We’ve talked up Bellarine a fair bit lately, particularly in the backhalf of the season. They’re no longer a surprise, they announced their championship contention very early on and have positioned themselves accordingly, but the story despite losing, in many respects is McKinnon. The amount of wins haven’t been what we’d expect out of the Cougars’ Den, but with a couple of experienced heads and some young guns such as Emily Maltezos who continues to lead the scoring, the Cougars may come out of 2024 better than how they started in a place for positive movement in 2025. The first half was a tight battle, the Storm holding just a 2 point advantage at the break. From there, just to short runs for Bellarine, one in each the third and fourth quarter ended up being the difference. Many of these points in these scenarios were second chance points off offensive rebounds, the key area that Bellarine won the battle over Bellarine. Bellarine’s 16 offensive rebounds to McKinnon’s 18 defensive rebounds, is a ratio that heavily favours Bellarine and that proved to be the difference down the stretch.
Pakenham (58) def Warrnambool (57)
For both teams this was the first in a double header weekend. More importantly, this weekend created the chance to get a foot in the finals, or end their season…. Or splitting the weekend would keep them in the hunt! What a match to look ahead too and what a game it turned out to be! Pakenham had full control through the first half and home fans had every right to feel good about things, leading 41-23. But then the tables flipped. The Mermaids locked things up defensively, not letting Pakenham score for the first 4 minutes of the third quarter. Whilst Warrnamnbool won the quarter 16-9, they were going to need even more in the final quarter to overcome a determined Pakenham outfit. Scoring big has been an issue for Warrnambool. Averaging 70ppg across the season is the lowest of all the teams in finals contention, so they forced the game onto their terms and shut the Warriors scoring options down. Pakenham shot at just 27% through the second half as the Mermaids made their run on the backs of Crichton, Pineau and Sewell. Pulling the monster deficit back to just a single point, it was Ebony Sans who was fouled with 8 seconds remaining and went to the line for Pakenham. Sans came up trumps, making the 2 free throws, of her total 11 points and despite the star Nielacna making another two free throws for Warrnambool, it was all too late as the Warriors secured a much needed win. Warrnambool were going to need to win their Sunday match to keep the season hopes alive.
Sherbrooke (87) def Hume City (67)
Nearly… nearly locked in playoffs is the best way to describe the Suns scenario after the strong win over the Broncos. It is a tough run to finish the regular season though – Bulleen, Wyndham and Sunbury! Hume City’s big gap compared to the rest of their competition has been their lack of ability to stop the opposition. They’ve averaged 10ppg more scored against them than their nearest competitor, let alone the what the top teams have been doing. Sadly they couldn’t make an impact against the big scoring lineup of Sherbrooke with Carline (23 points), Sooalo (22), Powell (16) and Garner (14) all scoring big points. We’ve spoken before that Sherbooke aren’t a big three point shooting team and to Hume City’s credit they forced them into more attempts from distance, than they’d normally like, but 8 offensive rebounds to Carline went some way to covering that. Hume City have given plenty of new players a look at the Championship division in 2024, blooding a group that will hopefully be the next title contender in the long and proud history of women’s basketball at the Broncos. Hindle (3/8 – 3FG) for 11 points, Overby with 12 and Ormiston with 13 points and 14 rebounds, with their reliable treble as they have been for much of the season. Whilst Hume City made a big effort in the last quarter and won the final period, Sherbrooke had put in a professionally executed first three quarters to have game in control as they set their sights on a significant last three games as they prepare for the finals.
Wyndham (111) def Sunbury (109)
A player’s dream out a Eagle Stadium on the weekend with scoring the absolute priority for both teams, yet nobody leading by more than 8 throughout the night! Between the two teams, there were 163 shot attempts, finishing at almost 50%! There were 30 x 3 pointers made out of 74 attempts! What a fun game to watch, but what a game to play in! I know what you’re thinking, one or two players went off; but no, this was a scoring party where everyone joined in! Sunbury were unknown at the beginning of the season. They’d seen significant change to the lineup, but as the season has gone on, they’ve played themselves into finals contention. But then some results such as this one, have you thinking “Could they be even more?” If they sneak into the finals, not sure I would want to be meeting them in a knockout game! Sunbury went into the final break with a 4 point lead, away from home and they led for more than half the night. What went wrong, if you can all it that? The Jets scored just 20 points in the final quarter, which normally is outstanding, but in a scoreline such as this one, it was a dip, enough of a dip for a team in Wyndham that live and die by this style of play. Sunbury took Wyndham on at their own game and almost did the job. Sunbury kept their noses in front until midway through the final term, at which point Wyndham got out to an 8 point jump with just 3:47 to play. Nobody comes back from there against Wyndham – wrong! The Jets had their turn on a run with a Mirkovic 3, and buckets from Pounds and Chloe Hildebrand before a Cameron layup put Sunbury back in front 105-106. Impey with 2 points and Paschal at the free throw line put Wyndham back in the box seat and despite Mirkovic with another 2 on the buzzer – Wyndham came away with the win, in what can only be described as the game of the season.
There are no bonus points for effort sadly; Sunbury go back into the 3 way logjam for the final playoff spot.
Bellarine (92) def Pakenham (67)
Pakenham needed to get Warrnambool on the Saturday night, knowing this was always going to be tough; away on the backend of a double header weekend to a formidable Bellarine Storm. A fierce battle was put up by Pakenham in the first quarter, leading the way. But that road trip and the tight battle from the night before might have caught up, as Bellarine controlled the court from there on in. Bellarine demonstrated their power with 5 scorers into double figures led by Courtney Strait with 22 point including 4/5 from 3 point land. Hall finished with 18 points @ 87% from the field in just 13 minutes of game time, whilst Virt with 14 points and 8 rebounds was important. The Warriors were led by star Briana Whatman with 17 points including 5/9 from 3point land. Whilst they created more scoring opportunities through the night than Bellarine, they just couldn’t convert at the same high levels as Bellarine. The Storm are stingy on defence (2nd in the league for points against) and that was demonstrated on Sunday afternoon.
Warrnambool (83) def McKinnon (67)
The Mermaids had a must win at McKinnon on Sunday afternoon, with a loss just about knocking them out of a tight playoff race. But the Mermaids arrived and did what they needed to do to keep the season alive, taking the win and keeping their season alive. The Mermaids got the job done early, securing a 15 point lead at the main break. The Cougars worked valiantly to get back into the game, but upon every sniff, the Mermaids blocked them out and secured their lead back. Warrnambool host Wyndham next weekend, before returning to Melbourne in the final round to play Hume City. Winning both would secure playoffs – a tough ask, but at their best, the Mermaids have taken it to everyone!
You can view our First Teams of the week here.
You can view our Second Teams of the week here.
