By Jonty Ralphsmith
A late fightback for the Pakenham women’s team wasn’t enough to get them over the line against Sunbury.
The Warriors kept Sunbury to just 17 points after halftime in a low scoring affair, but they left themselves too much work to do in the last stanza, down by 12 at three-quarter-time, before falling 58-54.
They got as close as two points in the last couple of minutes; after both sides missed some chances, Sunbury was able to stretch the lead to six points with 10 seconds to go, making a certainty of the result.
Haille Nickerson combined 23 points with nine rebounds, while fellow starters Ebony Sans, Jacinta Maxwell and Sam Romanowski all played bulk minutes.
It was a game the women needed to find a way to win against the only side in the competition that sits below them – a win would have given them some momentum and meant they had won three of their last four.
Instead, they languish in seventh position with a clash against McKinnon, which sits 6-3, upcoming.
Meanwhile, for the men, a 32-14 first quarter set up a dominant 30-point win over Chelsea.
Chelsea pressed hard in the second quarter, cutting the margin to nine at the main break, but Pakenham went back up to gear one in the third and kept it going in the fourth, winning 102-72.
Ned Weideman scored 27 points while Josh Dow sunk 20.
The result keeps Pakenham in the upper rungs of the ladder with eight wins from 10 matches.
In the youth league, Braden Venning’s men smashed Southern Peninsula 109-59.
It’s their fifth consecutive win, helping stabilise the season after a worrying 1-4 start to the year.
A renewed emphasis on defence has helped revitalise the season as the Warriors rekindle the hunger and maintain the faith.
Venning has seen Josh Norton, Ned Weideman, Nathan Dodgson and Matt Berkec step up from his program to the seniors.
His latest graduate is Michael Johns, with the youth team finding an even spread of players to replace last year’s MVP.
Cooper Lanting is one who has stepped up in recent weeks, while Ethan Small making four consecutive threes to start the third stanza exemplified his class.
Putting a score on the board despite Jackson Grey’s absence with a knee injury has also been pleasing,
The youth women, meanwhile, won 85-79 over Sunbury, getting the better of the hosts in a last quarter shootout.
