Above: Winning Warriors the under 16 girls blue team that had a good win against the Westernport Steelers last Friday night. Back: Kathy West (coach), Alexandra West, Claire Round and Kathy Hussey (team manager).IT was a good week for the Warriors Basketball Club with the women’s team defeating Warrandyte and the under16 girls blue playing one of its best games for the season, downing the Westernport Steelers.
The under16 boys blue team made amends for an early season loss by defeating Sandringham Sabres and the men’s team had a walkover.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:WOMEN
Having won its first game the previous week against the Sunbury Jets, the Warriors made it two in a row when they easily accounted for Warrandyte.
This week the Warriors benefitted from a good start by keeping the ball moving and Gemma Craven (16 points) and Liesl Holmes (11 points) scoring freely.
With a halftime score of 3211 it was going to be difficult for Warrandyte to come back. This proved to be the case after an even second half.
Scores: Pakenham 47 d Warrandyte 26.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz: UNDER 20 MEN
Playing at home against Eltham that is equal sixth, the Warriors started strongly and got in front early.
Eltham only had five players and when in the first half lost one to an ankle injury, the Warriors seemed to get lost and they quickly caught up.
After halftime, Pakenham started playing a good team game once again and shot further into the lead, winning comfortably 79 38. Ian Mewburn was on fire and couldn’t miss, Tim Hendrikx was held out allowing all other players to come to the fore andCheyne Pettit hit several threepointers.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:UNDER16 GIRLS BLUE
The Warriors hosted Westernport Steelers on Friday night and put in arguably their best half for the season.
Kate Muccignat was unrelenting in her defence and drove strongly to the basket.
Lauren Brown scoredwell and rebounded everything that was missed.
With some displays of clever offensive play that were a pleasure to watch, the Warriors wentinto the halftime break 20 points leading the Steelers six points. The second half saw the Steelers make up some ground, but the Warriors weren’t going to let them bridge the gap and tightened their defence.
Jacinta Hussey once again was clever in finding the gaps to be a worthy target under the basket.
Scores: Warriors 27 d Steelers 20.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz: UNDER 16 BOYS GOLD
Westernport jumped Pakenham at the start of the game building a 16point lead.
Pakenham showed great determination to fight back, to be within reach at halftime, reducing the deficit to four points.
Justin Smaluch led the way offensively, with 13 points in the second half, giving him 20 points for the game. James Bridgett 14 points and Nathan Page nine points kept things tight.
Westernport managed to hold on to win an exciting and well fought out game. Once again missed free throws proving costly with Pakenham hitting only three out of 19.
Scores: Pakenham 53 lost to Westernport 56.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz: UNDER 16 BOYS BLUE
In a battle for top position, the Warriors hosted the Sandringham Sabres.
The Sabres are the only team to defeat the Warriors so far this season, so a hard battle was expected and one that Pakenham was determined to win.
Jackson Fromhold (six points) returned from injury and made an immediate impact with excellent defensive play by completely blanketing the dominant Sabre player.
Daniel Jeavons (six points) continued his fine form contributing a nice threepointer and Andrew Rigby (two points) rebounded well as the Warriors set off on a demolition of their opponent.
Jason Budge (16 points) and Dale O’Callaghan (14 points) dominated at both ends to see the Warriors leading at half time 35/13.
The warriors dominated the second half with Josh Dawson (six points) and Jake Heyen (14 points) continually attacking the basket.
James Flannery (11 points) was unstoppable, despite being doubleteamed for most of the game.
An excellent team effort saw the Warriors win convincingly.
Scores: Warriors 73 d Sandringham Sabres 27.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:UNDER 14 GIRLS
Friday night’s crossover match had the Warriors pitted against the other division’s topoftheladder team Bulleen.
The first 15 minutes saw a tight contest, with neither side gaining a decisive break.
Samara Griffiths fought hard by continually driving at the basket and was rewarded with a number of free throws.
However, the team’s defence faltered in the last few minutes and Bulleen slipped away to a 19 to nine lead at halftime.
At the start of the second half, Samara Griffiths inspired the team with two threepoint plays. Megan Wallace continued her fine form from the past few weeks and Mikaela Foy had another solid performance. Jordan Eagles tried hard too.
Despite all their efforts, each time the Warriors drew close, Bulleen managed to skip away again.
Scores: Bulleen 41 d Warriors 28.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:UNDER 14 BOYS
Sandringham came to Pakenham and turned it on right from the start.
The young Warriors fought hard, but with two of their main guns not playing had their work cut out.
Mark Nicosia (six) shot two points, Ashley beck (nine) shot six, Lewis Vigliarolo (four) shot two and Brendan Gillen shot two points for the half.
Sandringham was up at half time 12 to 32.
The warriors started well in the second half, but it was tough trying to stop the momentum of the Sandringham team.
Matt Jeavons did his bit with 10 points, Ashley Beck dropped three more points, Lewis Vigliarolo drove for two and Mark Nicosia was on the fast break for four points in the second half.
Scores: Sandringham 60 d Warriors 31.
