A TOPSY-TURVY Saturday night of basketball at Wallan saw two wild games play out.
The Panthers’ women kicked things off as they looked for a good result to move on from last week’s loss to Keysborough, battling Coburg.
Wallan got the early jump, moving to a four-point lead with eight minutes gone, but as would become a common theme in the game, Coburg battled back into the game with a little run of their own, scoring seven of the last nine points of the term to snatch a one-point lead at the end of the first break, 17-16.
The Panthers had a terrific start in the second term, grabbing plenty of offensive rebounds to generate second chance points and moving eight points clear with half the quarter gone, but the Giants made another run to keep the game close, with Wallan leading 33-31 at the main break.
Wallan again made a run to start the third term, moving seven points clear with half the quarter gone, and maintaining a four-point lead at the final change, 51-47.
However, the Giants assumed control with their best run of the game, scoring 13 of the first 14 points of the term to move eight points clear with just under four minutes left.
Remarkably, Wallan had one more run in them, and it was Melissa Buckley who had the final say.
The Panthers went on an incredible 17-0 run to finish the game, with their three-point shooting coming to the fore. Buckley contributed 10 of those 17 points, which included two big three pointers, as the Panthers pinched a nine-point win, 69-60.
Ranika Guyton flirted with a triple double, scoring 20 points, collecting nine rebounds and dishing out seven assists, while Buckley’s 19 points and Emmie Gardiner’s 14 points and 23 boards were crucial.
A delighted coach Jarrod Bridge was thrilled with his charges’ finish.
“Last week was tough. Keysborough were a very-well put together team. This week, we expected a tight game, and I kept saying to the girls to weather the storm, take deep breaths and keep moving while we’re a bit short-handed,” he said.
“A little bit of luck went our way towards the end, but as long as we stick in a game, we can win it in the end.”
With 24 turnovers, Bridge says there would be some adjustments, but also acknowledged the challenge both Keysborough and Coburg have provided defensively to open the season for the Panthers.
“The pressure got us last week with the turnovers, but this week, it was us. They defended the passing lanes really well, and we didn’t adjust and kept doing the same thing,” he said.
“I said to the girls during the third quarter that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and getting the same result, but they figured it out, started to throw a couple of fake passes to make a few changes, but having two weeks of the opposition defending us the right way has been tough.”
Meantime, Wallan’s men had a tougher outing against Collingwood.
An unstoppable All-Stars unit were able to put together a scoring barrage in the first quarter. Peter Leckie did what he could in the opening minutes in scoring 12 of the Panthers’ first 14 points, but they were unable to match the All-Stars scoring power as they led 40-25 at the first change.
The All-Stars continued to control the pace of play in the second term, although the scoring did slow down a fair bit. Regardless, they held a 23-point lead and answered all of Wallan’s challenges, with the score reading 63-40 at the main break.
Wallan started the third term positively and scored the first six points to close the gap to 17 and was still keeping a watching brief midway through the term as they reduced it to 13.
However, the last three minutes belonged to Collingwood as they rediscovered their first quarter shooting, putting together an unstoppable finish to score 16 consecutive points to blow the game away from the Panthers, with an 87-58 scoreline at the end of the term.
The last quarter essentially saw both teams play out time, but it was Collingwood who won all four quarters and taking a 35-point win, 106-71.
Jon Bailey collected 16 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four blocks, while Leckie and William Stewart scored 12 points apiece.
In Youth League action, Wallan’s men took an 11-point win over Whittlesea on Sunday afternoon.
Luke Cairns scored 23 points and Kaleb Graham 22 as the Panthers controlled the second half.
Wallan’s women were unable to score a victory at Surfcoast, losing all four quarters as Surfcoast won 81-59.
Chloe Mott and Olivia Sweet led the way with 14 points apiece.
In Big V action this week, Wallan’s men will travel to Sherbrooke, while the women will look to make it back-to-back wins as they travel to Surfcoast.
The men’s Youth League team will travel to RMIT University, while the women take on Southern Peninsula.
