It was a double header for Wallan Panthers women’s team at the weekend, but the side’s defence was not strong enough to claim any victories in round seven.
Playing away, the Panthers were preparing themselves for the big challenge against Chelsea who are currently on a winning streak in the Big V competition.
Taking on the challenge, Wallan had a better start in the first quarter compared to previous games, with Wallan’s Kylah Collins and Molly Young making back-to-back two-point layups after Chelsea made the first layup of the game.
While Chelsea was leading most of the game, the Panthers challenged the side as much as they could but defensively were not up to scratch to take down Chelea’s winning streak.
At the end of the final buzzer, the final score saw Wallan with a 90-68 loss. Despite the tough game, coach Jarrod Bridge said it wasn’t disheartening to not win the game.
“[The start], it wasn’t as bad as it has been, we definitely put a few more points on the board than we have in the past early, which obviously made things a little easier,” he said.
“But realistically, it came down to our defence and we just didn’t have enough collective effort to really slow them down.”
The second match at the Jungle was not a huge improvement from the Panther’s away game, with a six-point loss to Blackburn.
For Wallan it was their second loss in round seven, but for Blackburn it was the first win in the entire competition so far. The Panthers came around in the third quarter, adding pressure but once again the defence was the matter in question.
“[Blackburn], they played a very physical game … just really made it hard for us to get anything in particular going,” Bridge said.
“Once we sort of hit our second half, things started opening for us and we started making a bit of a comeback and put a bit of pressure on them.
“It’s like a rollercoaster – It kind of goes up and down and [Blackburn], they got the up in the end … and it was probably a similar thing where our defensive efforts really wasn’t where it needed to be.”
In round eight of the competition this weekend, Wallan will head into the game against Melbourne University with defence on their minds.
“This whole week’s training is going to be very defensive focused, it’s going to be very much about backing each other up, making sure that there’s defensive trusts,” Bridge said.
Men
Another tough match, the Panthers’ division two men suffered a 20-point loss to Maccabi at the weekend.
The first quarter was looking close with Maccabi dominating by six points, but a few missed shots made by Wallan in the second quarter kept Maccabi on top.
Wallan made sure the side was not left behind in the third quarter, bumping the scoreboard through several three jump shots, however Maccabi was still the dominating team.
Maccabi almost made triple digits but only took the 99-79 win over Wallan. Wallan will play against Surf Coast this Saturday.
