Vic Youth Championship Preliminary Finals Previews

Vic Youth Championship Men 

 Nunawading vs Ballarat

Sunday 31^st July 2:30pm at Nunawading Stadium

In the second preliminary final for this massive weekend, we see the Nunawading Spectres take on Ballarat Miners in a blockbuster. Both coming from the Terril conference Nunawading came away with two wins over the Miners during the regular season, both with different lineups.

Ballarat coming off two big elimination wins over Sandringham and Kilsyth, with a combined margin of 27 points, look to continue their charge towards the big dance. With multiple players swinging between NBL1 and Youth League like Amos Brooks, Lucas Impey and Jeremiah Mckenzie, Ballarat finds ways to disrupt and play with great pace in transition. William Hynes, another NBL1 development player didn’t take the floor in either elimination game. Will he take the court on Sunday to add further depth and shooting ability? It was Jeremiah Mckenzie who made a tremendous impact over the weekend averaging 25.5 points, knocking down 10 threes whilst shooting over 60% from the field in both games.

Nunawading on the other hand battled hard on the road to take the win over the 1st placed Casey, awarding themselves the Sunday off to rest and recover. With Christian D’Angelo and Curtis Brecko coming back into the side for finals and making an impact immediately, Nunawading looks to take themselves into the finals yet again. Jaylen Gordon finished with a strong 14 points and 5 offensive rebound performance assisting Christian D’Angelo’s 26-point craze. Nunawading has been in this position several times in past seasons, is coach Andrew West able to motivate the squad and make it to the finals again?

A big match-up this weekend will be the two dominant scorers Jeremiah Mckenzie and Christian D’Angelo. Only one can come out on top in this great battle, which corner are you in?

Statistical Leaders
Nunawading			Ballarat
Christian D’Angelo	20.08ppg	Points Per Game	Zac Dunmore	16.8ppg
Lachlan De Mattia	9.22rpg	Rebounds Per Game	Jackson Talbot	7.04rpg
Ezrah Vaigafa	3.25apg	Assists Per Game	William Hynes	4apg

 

Knox vs Ringwood

Sunday 31^st July 2:00pm at Knox Basketball Stadium Boronia

The first preliminary final for the men’s is a great hit out again the Knox Raiders and Ringwood Hawks. Knox got it done on Saturday night knocking off Kilsyth to progress straight through whilst Ringwood had their work cut out for themselves yet came through knocking off Diamond Valley and the top seed in the Watson conference Casey.

Ringwood’s dominant backcourt combination of Harrison Sealey, Sebastien Lees and Lachlan Ahale went to work over the weekend putting up double figures in both Saturday and Sunday elimination finals. Sealey averaging 24 points for the weekend with Lees doing it all on both sides of the floor, especially in the Casey game finishing with 26 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals shooting 46% from the field. Playing high-level minutes in both games will this big 3 be able to continue this trend and knock the number 1 seed in Terril Knox?

Knox came away comfortably in their Saturday home game at Boronia stadium winning by a dominant 25 points. Without the likes of star guards Austin Shelley and Bailey Nunn, it was Knox’s big men Adam Slavic and Matt Berkec who took over the game both finishing in double figures. The athletic Ethan Taylor added a 12-point 5 rebound and 3 steal performance proving to the league why Knox finished on top. People say you win the rebound count, you win the game. Knox dominated this stat, pulling down 21 more rebounds than Kilsyth, 18 of their 53 for the game being offensive.

This week we’ll see point gods Riley Spicer and Harrison Sealey go at each other. Both are able to stretch the floor and get on the ring, it’ll be a battle between these two. Take your pick? 

Statistical Leaders
Knox			Ringwood
Ethan Taylor	13.85ppg	Points Per Game	Harrison Sealey	17.87ppg
Adam Slavnic	8.58rpg	Rebounds Per Game	Bayley Rough	9.45rpg
Austin Shelley	2.82apg	Assists Per Game	Sebastien Lees	5.83apg

 

Vic Youth Championship Women 

Keilor vs Hume

Saturday 30^th July 7:30pm at Keilor Basketball Stadium

The first of our two preliminary finals sees the two 2nd placed opponents Keilor Thunder and Hume Broncos. Keilor was able to get it done over the top seed Casey on Saturday night to progress through whilst Hume battled hard against Nunawading yet had to play Sunday and get the win over Bendigo. 

Hume’s two stars Emma Povh and Chrisoula Triantafyllopoulos pushed Nunawading to the very end, Povh finishing with 15 points and 6 rebounds and Triantafyllopoulos with a team-high double-double going off for 19 points and 12 rebounds.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to knock off the Spectres, yet with the second chance opportunity, Hume bounced back very well to run over the Braves by 24 points. An amazing team performance saw the starting 5 all hit double figures putting a smile on coach Tim Delvin’s face. Now facing a tough Keilor squad, the Broncos will need to bring their best to find themselves in the big dance the following week.

Keilor had a very up and down game against Casey just holding on in the end to progress themselves to the preliminary game. Having two 6 point quarters, coach Trevor Brunette will be ensuring Keilor play with some more consistency on the offensive end this weekend. Young gun Jaz Salon led the way for Keilor with 16 points in 39 minutes to go along with 6 rebounds and 3 assists. We will look to see Leah Mackenzie have more of an impact this weekend averaging 14.74 points in the regular season. 2022’s U20 Victorian star Grace Graham will be another to look out for as she didn’t play in the first round of finals. Will we see her suit up this weekend?

Our key match-up for this battle is Keilor’s Leah Mackenzie and Hume’s Chrisoula Triantafyllopoulos. With two dominant offensive weapons hitting it out, this will be a great match-up and one to keep an eye on! 

Statistical Leaders
Keilor			Hume
Grace Graham	17.27ppg	Points Per Game	Emma Povh	17.62ppg
Meg Lucas	9.18rpg	Rebounds Per Game	Amalia Triantafyllopoulos	6.52rpg
Jaz Salon	4.2apg	Assists Per Game	Jayde Kirk	2.35apg

 

Nunawading vs Casey

Sunday 31^st July 12:30pm at Nunawading Basketball Stadium

In the second of the two preliminary finals, we see the two 1st placed teams battle it out for a spot in the big dance. It is the Nunawading Spectres hosting the Casey Cavaliers on Sunday at the Graveyard. Nunawading progressed quickly on the Saturday whilst Casey had to battle the Altona Gators on the Sunday before progressing through.

Casey didn’t quite have the weekend they would have liked, having to play on the Sunday after losing to Keilor. Dakota Crichton had a very solid weekend for the Cavaliers averaging 18 points and 9.5 rebounds playing over 30 minutes in both hit outs. Coming away with a 21-point win over the Gators on Sunday, Casey put together a better team performance with 4 players reaching double figures and forcing 19 turnovers. Casey will have to continue this team's first performance to beat the Spectres on the road. Can coach Joe Turner motivate and drive the Cavaliers over the line on Sunday and can Dakota continue to hover around the double-double stat line?

The Nunawading Spectres won themselves the Sunday off after a consistent performance on Saturday night against the Broncos. Scoring over 15 points in each quarter, the Spectres arsenal of scoring threats like the Schmidtke sisters, Julia Gnocato and Stephanie Georgantas hope to put themselves in a great position early to make it to the finals yet again. A resilient Nick Jackson found a way to keep the Spectres moving forward after losing the dominant Wales sisters, now looking to Tyalah Schmidtke and stretch big Stephanie Georgantas to liven up the Graveyard.

Dakota Crichton and Stephanie Georgantas are our key matchup for this Sunday's blockbuster. Two long and highly skilled bigs making impacts on both sides of the floor will be going head to head in what looks to be a very exciting game!

Statistical Leaders
Nunawading			Casey
Stephanie Georgantas	11.47ppg	Points Per Game	Dakota Crichton	17.87ppg
Neave Hancock-Wolfe	6.32rpg	Rebounds Per Game	Dakota Crichton	9.2rpg
Taylah Schmidtke	3.29apg	Assists Per Game	Lucy Dexter	3.58apg