By Jonty Ralphsmith
Pakenham was able to twice overcome significant deficits against Sunbury on Saturday night, winning a seesawing battle 90-84 at Boardman Stadium.
The Warriors were 13 points behind early in the second quarter, led by as much as seven points early in the third, before falling nine points behind just before the last break.
Having been an Achilles heel for most of the season, the Warriors bucketed all 11 of their freethrow opportunities in the last quarter – critical in a tight finish – and 27 of 31 for the game.
Four virtually consecutive freethrows midway through the last quarter to Briahna Whatman and Haille Nickerson respectively was a significant momentum-shifter.
It levelled the scores up for a Warriors outfit which trailed by multiple possessions since midway through the third quarter.
“The girls were calm and the ball was in the right people’s hands,” coach Rob Dielemans said of the freethrow shooting.
“We spend a fair bit of time doing freethrows and monitoring during the year.
“We would average 170 freethrows per player for our practice sessions in between running drills so they’re doing it fatigued so we can as best we can replicate game situation and putting a fair emphasis on it.
“Getting into and attacking the paint and putting pressure on the rim to get to the freethrow line was something we did a good job at.”
In between their successful freethrows, Ebony Sans scored five crucial last quarter points from the field and Briahna Whatman converted a clutch three with just over a minute to go.
Locked down throughout the game, Whatman finished with just six points, but facilitated excellently at the offensive end.
Shooting her threes at less than 20 per cent for the year prior to Saturday night, Breanna McKenzie scored two triples in the first half amid shooting inefficiency for many of her teammates.
The early momentum going Sunbury’s way was a product of Pakenham missing simple layups, which they were able to rectify significantly when the game threatened to get away from them.
“I didn’t think we were playing poorly and it’s not like they got to a massive score,” Dielemans said.
“We just didn’t capitalise on our opportunities at the time. I didn’t think it was a bad start, we just weren’t finishing our work.”
There was an air of calmness about the manner in which Pakenham fought their way back into the contest.
Work was put into Veronika Mirkovic and Chloe Hildebrand, while Abby Hildebrand also struggled to impact through Pakenham’s system.
Despite Mirkovic combining 18 points and 14 rebounds, the club was pleased with how she was handled; Erica Meyer had limited her throughout the season but was fouled out early, yet the Warriors were able to maintain pressure on her.
The Warriors were also able to break even on the boards with 44 rebounds apiece.
“We were able to get out and run when they weren’t getting o-boards and we penalised their three misses well,” Dielemans said.
“We were able to get in behind them a bit.
“We looked after the ball well. We executed at the offensive end reasonable well for most of the game and we shot the ball at a good clip – well over 30 per cent from three, w hen we got to the rim we really hurt them and we converted our freethrows so it was really cool.
“I’m really pleased for the girls – they dug themselves out of two big holes and just chipped away rather than trying to get it back in a couple of possessions.
“We trusted the process would get us there.”
The Warriors will face Bellarine on the road at 5pm on Saturday.
Last two times they’ve met: Bellarine d Pakenham 87-76, Bellarine d Pakenham 92-67
Preliminary finals: Pakenham d Sunbury 90-84, Bellarine d by Bulleen 54-64
Key players: Haille Nickerson (18 points, five rebounds, three assists), Briahna Whatman (14 points, four assists, 36 per cent 3P%), Erica Meyer (Seven rebounds, two blocks)
Opponents to watch: Bridgette Rettstatt (17 points, 13 rebounds), Courney Strait (16 points, three assists)
