By David Nagel
The Pakenham Warriors are off to a fast start in the Big V Division Two Men’s competition after an 80-74 victory on the road at Craigieburn.
The Warriors were outplayed in the opening stanza, trailing 22-18, but adjusted well under coach Rob Roberts to take a 42-40 lead at half time.
The Warriors slightly had the better of a tough and tense third stanza before finishing strongly with a 19-16 final term.
There were two main scoring options for the Warriors, with Joe Davis putting an early stamp on the season, scoring 30 points, while Josh Dow began his campaign in solid fashion with a double-double – with 21 points and 11 rebounds.
Dow hit the boards impressively at the defensive end of the court, dragging in nine rebounds to deny the Eagles dangerous offensive weapons, led by Wol Ngong and Cal Jazmin.
The Warriors starting five of Davis, Dow, Josh Norton, Trent Lee and Nathan Dodgson combined well, while important minutes off the bench from Elias Kafrouni and Jake Spruhan played a role in the final wash up.
Spruhan grabbed seven boards, including five defensive rebounds, to give great support to Dow.
Kafrouni had two looks at the net…and swished both.
After their impressive victory, the Warriors head west again this Sunday to take on Altona, the early pace-setters after clean-sweeping a double-header against Wallan (67-61) and Melton (94-76) on the weekend.
After round one, the Warriors men’s side sits sixth on the table.
The Warriors women’s team has been promoted to the powerful Championship Women’s competition and the challenges that exist will be plainly obvious to the team after a 79-55 loss to McKinnon.
The Warriors came out humming, leading 19-18 at the quarter time but fell away quickly in the second term.
McKinnon lifted its defensive rating, holding the Warriors to just 10 points in the second stanza while piling on 22 points of its own.
The Warriors battled hard from that point forward, but were always behind the eight-ball.
On a tough night at the office, a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double from Deanna Jolliffe was the individual highlight for Pakenham, while 11 points from limited court time for Christine Stiglich was a positive sign moving forward.
The Warriors have a double-header this weekend, travelling to Sunbury on Saturday night before backing up with their first home-court appearance against Hume.
Sunday tip-off at Cardinia Life takes place at 1pm.
The Warriors Youth League One Women’s team has started its season in devastating form with a 103-30 thrashing of Sherbrooke.
The Warriors were totally dominant, particularly in the second and fourth terms, scoring a combined 57 to 8 across those two periods of play.
In a great team effort, every player on the Warriors roster scored points, with Alahna Arnason (19 points, 18 rebounds) and Cate Zemunik (17 points, 10 rebounds) returning double-doubles in a great start to their seasons.
Hannah Wilder was also impressive with five assists.
And Pakenham’s Youth League Two men’s team completed a competitive weekend for the Warriors with an 87-65 win over Western Port.
The Warriors trailed by two at half-time, 39-37, before unleashing a devastating second half performance.
With Jackson Grey (23 points, 8 rebounds) and Jarred Small (14 points) in great form, the Warriors scored 50-26 after the half-time interval to race away with the contest.
FIXTURE
CHAMPIONSHIP WOMEN
Sunbury v Pakenham – Saturday 6pm
Pakenham v Hume – (Cardinia Life) Sunday 1pm
DIVISION TWO MEN
Altona v Pakenham – Sunday 1pm
YOUTH LEAGUE ONE WOMEN
Frankston v Pakenham – Saturday 5.30pm
YOUTH LEAGUE TWO MEN
Wallan v Pakenham – Sunday 3pm
