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Panthers’ women runners up in Big V grand final

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Jordyn Grubisic
Jordyn Grubisic
Jordyn Grubisic is a senior journalist for the North Central Review primarily covering politics at all levels and sport with a particular interest in basketball. Since 2019 she has worked for several publications across Victoria including most recently at the Alexandra Standard and Yea Chronicle. She is always keen to hear from local community members about issues they face and has an interest in crime and court reporting.

Despite mounting comeback efforts, Wallan Panthers women lost by seven points to Gippsland United in the Big V division two grand final on Saturday.

In a physical game that saw both sides get into foul trouble, Wallan’s Kylah Collins fouled out halfway through the fourth quarter.

Wallan’s Olivia Woods had a strong first quarter hitting clutch baskets, putting the Panthers in front throughout the quarter as the lead continued to switch between sides.

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Collins got a steal with 51 seconds remaining, making a layup to put Wallan ahead by three at the end of the first quarter.

Madison Tinetti and Melissa Buckley came off the bench, contributing to the first quarter lead with a two-point jump shot and three-pointer respectively to help recapture the lead throughout the close first quarter.

With three steals, Wallan’s captain Sarah Scott had a strong defensive game.

She also drew four fouls from Gippsland to put them into foul trouble, giving the Panthers the opportunity to hit the foul line.

In the second quarter, Collins controlled the court, forcing a turnover and drawing the foul to make one out of two free-throws before blocking a shot in the defensive end.

With just over a minute remaining in the second quarter, Collins drew another foul from Gippsland, making both free throws before getting another steal finishing with a driving layup, bringing the game back to within six points as Wallan played catchup.

Wallan’s Abby Dalmau made a layup with 48 seconds remaining to put Wallan behind by four points heading into halftime.

The third quarter was rough for Wallan with turnovers and foul trouble once again.

A three-pointer from Buckley with three minutes remaining brought the game to within nine but Gippsland still closed out the lead 67 to 52.

Getting on a seven-point run at the start of the fourth quarter, Gippsland also had two consecutive fouls kicking off another quarter of foul trouble.

Collins, on four fouls, made a layup after being subbed in, drawing the foul and hitting the free-throw for a three-point play.

With four and a half minutes on the clock, Collins got her fifth foul that saw her out for the remaining minutes while Wallan trailed by 17 points.

Mirroring the start of the quarter, Gippsland shot the final seven points for the game to take the win 89 to 72.

Gippsland’s MaKenzie Miller was named Most Valuable Player, MVP, for the match.

Despite getting fouled out, Collins had another double-double to close out her season with 25 points and 12 rebounds to go with her five steals.

Wallan head coach Casey Papanicolaou said the side didn’t shoot well.

“Obviously 25 per cent from the field is not going to cut it in the grand final, but we were down by 22 at one stage and we fought hard to get it back to eight,” he said.

“We had 13 more shots than they but they were shooting at 40 per cent and that was probably the difference in the end.

“You had to be really good at the end with no mistakes to take it out but Gippsland were just better in the end.

“It was a good effort, just not enough.

“But I’m still proud of what we achieved this year to make it to the grand final, it just wasn’t meant to be for the next step.”

Papanicolaou said he was ‘really proud’ of what the side achieved this season.

“We’ve been going since November and I know a lot of people didn’t give us much of a chance to make finals purely because we’re not a very big side,” he said.

“I would also just like to thank the crowd. We had a really good crowd follow us on Saturday night and they’ve been with us all year. I know we appreciate that so I would like to thank them as well.”

It was also the captain’s last game with the side.

“It was Sarah’s last game so it would’ve been good to send her off with a win, but regardless I’m still very proud of the girls and how far we’ve come form the start of the year to now,” Papanicolaou said.

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