WALLAN’S men’s teams had a perfect weekend in the Big V competition, while the Panthers’ women will be looking to bounce back after three tough losses.
The Panthers’ men’s team moved up to sixth position on the division two table courtesy of a six-point win over Melton at Cobblebank Stadium.
The first half was an exceptionally tight affair, with Melton taking a narrow lead at the first break in a high-scoring term, 26-25 and increasing that margin by another point in the second quarter to lead 48-46 at the main break.
Despite Melton starting strongly in the second half to increase its lead to seven, the Panthers had an exceptional finish to the term as Jayden O’Brien went nuclear, scoring 12 straight points to finish the term as the Panthers hit the front at the final change, leading 71-70.
O’Brien made it 18 consecutive points with the first six points for the Panthers in the final term as it looked to get the job done, and with the likes of Trent Cousins and Jon Bailey stepping up with big buckets late, the Panthers scored a 95-89 victory.
O’Brien finished with 28 points in an efficient game, while Bailey scored 15 and Cousins 14 to lead the way for the Panthers.
Wallan’s women had a setback after losing both games of their double-header.
The Panthers were left to rue a costly second and third quarter of their first game against a short-handed Gippsland United on Saturday night, losing by two points.
Wallan made a strong enough start, leading 16-13 at the first change, but the game shifted in Gippsland’s favour in the second term, as it scored 25 points to 17, turning for the second half leading 38-33.
United continued to control the balance of play in the third quarter, scoring 18 points to 13 in a low scoring affair, and extending their lead to 10 points with one term to play, 56-46.
The Panthers roared back into the game in the final term, and much of the play could be attributed to the form of Ranika Guyton, who finished with 31 points.
Unfortunately, the Panthers fell two points short of completing the comeback, with Gippsland holding on for a 70-68 win.
The second leg of Wallan’s back-to-back weekend saw it host RMIT, and in a see-sawing game, lost by nine points.
RMIT had a very fast start as it scored 23 points to 12 in the opening term. But Wallan hit back in the second to make a game of it by the main break, scoring 20 points to 15 to reduce the margin to six at the long break, 38-32.
The Redbacks seemed to have all the answers, however, and delivered timely buckets to keep the Panthers at bay. They took the third quarter by six points to increase the margin to 12 points by the final change, 56-44.
Despite all of the Panthers’ efforts, they were unable to close the gap and had to taste a second defeat for the weekend, losing 61-70.
Emmie Gardiner scored 27 points and collected 18 rebounds.
Wallan’s Youth League men had a dominant 30-point win over Mornington, 108-78.
Damon Anderson led from the front to score 28 points, while Kaleb Graham added 19 and Luke Cairns 15.
Unfortunately, Wallan’s Youth League women could not back up and take the same result, despite a really competitive first half, losing 54-89 to Southern Peninsula.
Kendra Reukers played a lone hand offensively for the Panthers, scoring 24 points in the loss.
