THE main winter season started for the Warriors, who opened the senior MMBL season with a successful doubleheader at home.
The men won a close, lowscoring affair and the women rallied in the last quarter. In junior competition both under16 boys teams had solid firstup wins.
WOMEN
After performing well enough during the summer to be recalled to an expanded Premier Division, the Warriors won a tight encounter against the Sunbury Jets in round one of winter competition.
The Warriors could only muster five players for the opening round and looked like running out of legs in the last quarter when the Jets opened up a lead of seven points, which was the biggest margin of the game.
But new coach Wright Paterson refocused the team during a timeout. The Warriors then produced a terrific effort in the last five minutes to come back and win 4640.
The Warriors would be happy to start the season with a win as some much tougher opposition awaits them. Playing for the Warriors were Gemma Craven and Liesl Holmes (13 points each), Nicky St Clair (eight points), Natalie Sallai (seven points) and Laura Craven (six points).
UNDER 20 MEN
Playing a fast game, McKinnon got a quick start and led through the first half, but had only a 3431 lead at half time.
In the second half the Warriors took the lead several times but, in the last few minutes, McKinnon pulled away to win 6658.
Scoring was an even affair for the Warriors, Jamie Stow (15) being top scorer. Stewart Weekes shot 14 points and Tim Hendrikx 13.
Shane Hart shot an impressive threepointer early in the second half to get the side going.
UNDER 16 GIRLS
Pakenham played on Friday night at home and found Knox 3 a tough firstup opponent.
There was some promising plays by the Warriors and with some hard work and concentration at training this season they will be sure to take it up to the Raiders when they meet again.
The Warriors matched Knox’s score in the second half and went down 2039.
UNDER 16 BOYS GOLD
Pakenham’s first game of the season was at home against Latrobe and Pakenham made a strong start to build an early lead.
All the Pakenham players worked hard and shared the ball around, using many different scoring options. Pakenham went in at halftime with a strong lead 3117.
In the second half Latrobe worked hard to get back into the game, but Pakenham managed to answer all challenges and went on to win 6037 in an encouraging start to the season.
Zac Money led the scoring with 16 points, Justin Smaluch and James Bridgett scored 10 points each, Tom Lorimer eight and Nathan Page seven.
UNDER 16 BOYS BLUE
The Warriors hosted Waverley Falcons in the first round but got away to a slow start, giving new coach Matt Holmes a bit of work to do early.
After trailing 122 halfway through the first half, the Warriors finally shook off nerves and settled into their routine, hit top gear and levelled the game at 12 points apiece with brilliant basketball and took a narrow lead into the halftime break.
The second half was a tight struggle, the Warriors staying slightly on top of their opponents.
Dale O’Callaghan made a welcome return after a long injury lay off and with his dominant defensive rebounding was able to set up Daniel Jeavons on numerous occasions with the fast break opportunities. Newcomer Andrew Rigby got some valuable court time and proved he will be a great asset.
The Warriors secured a 46 36 win.
UNDER 14 GIRLS
The Warriors have been improving throughout the grading phase but came up against a more structured Mornington side in the first game.
Pakenham stayed with Mornington for most of the game but some poor passing under man to man pressure allowed Mornington to get some easy points.
The coach is confident that the girls can improve on this game as they become comfortable with their offence and step up their defence.
Solid contributions were made by all players but Pakenham went down to Mornington 2537.
