Tough week for Warriors

THE second week of the basketball finals was a hard one for the Warriors with the under20 men, winners by a convincing 34 points, the only team to advance to the preliminary final. The under16 Boys Gold and the under14 girls were outplayed and now play off for third place while the under16 Boys Blue had a shocker but have a second chance in the preliminary final.
UNDER 16 BOYS GOLD
The Pakenham boys played Western Port at Mornington, in their second elimination final. Western Port made a confident start building an early lead. Steven Luxford worked hard in attack scoring seven firsthalf points. James Bridgett and Justin Smaluch scored four points each and two points to Nathan Page and Tom Lorimer saw Pakenham go in at half time down 2028.
In the second half Pakenham tried hard to narrow the gap. Zach Money was effective with nine secondhalf points and James Bridgett’s five points and Nathan Page’s four kept Pakenham within reach. However, Western Port had an answer to all that was thrown at them and went on to record a comfortable 6048 win.
The boys will now play off for the bronze on Sunday.
UNDER 16 BOYS BLUE
THE Warriors started poorly against Eltham in the second semifinal as if the week off looked to have caused them to lose intensity and the Wildcats made Pakenham look second rate.
An early sixpoint lead to the Wildcats slowly grew as turnovers and flat offence ruined the Warriors’ chances. A threepointer just on half time blew out the lead and the Warriors’ hopes went out the window 1227 at half time.
The second half was worse as the enthusiastic Wildcats ran all over Pakenham and thumped it 5322. Centre Jason Budge tried hard at both ends and Daniel Jeavons was prepared run to give the Warriors some run in attack but it what was a flat performance from the Warriors.
UNDER 14 GIRLS
The Warrior girls played their semifinal match against Ringwood at Knox. The Hawks set the pace for the match by having six points on the board before the Warriors scored. The girls battled hard but they found it difficult to penetrate Ringwood’s defence, especially when trying to shoot over their very tall defender. At half time Ringwood had doubled the Warriors’ score to lead 20 to 10.
No matter what the Warriors tried in the second half they could not peg back the Ringwood side. Missing a number of easy shots did not help their cause. In the end the Warriors lost 2338 to Ringwood, and the Hawks should trouble the top sides if they continue that form.
The Warriors have a chance to finish their season on a high note by playing off for the bronze medal on Sunday, a big improvement.