By Jonty Ralphsmith
Pakenham has tasted success in both the youth women’s and men’s program, across the weekend, with both teams maintaining top spot in their competitions.
The women had an 81-60 victory over fourth placed Camberwell, while the men won 94-66 against 11th-placed RMIT.
Stella O’Loughlin led the way for the Youth Women at Balwyn, finishing with 25 points, eight rebounds and three assists.
Pakenham got out to an early lead and were the frontrunners for most of the day, responding well to two challenges in the second half.
Camberwell briefly took the lead in the third quarter before Pakenham’s defence tightened, to keep them to just two points for the second half of the third quarter.
Rhiannon Gallagher started the fourth quarter well, underlined by four defensive rebounds and a steal, to help Pakenham stave off another challenge.
Hayley Letts made a decisive three midway through the last quarter to flatten the opponents’ momentum and help Pakenham pull away for good.
The Warriors host sixth-placed Ballarat at Cardinia Life from 2pm on Sunday.
Meanwhile for the men, Hayden Melsen led the scoring for the third consecutive game, with 22 points, with the Warriors starting him on Saturday at Bundoora following his strong form last weekend.
He made an immediate impact, finding his radar early and shooting well across the day.
Riley Browne was lethal off the boards, finishing with 15 rebounds from just 16 minutes of game time, while Kaleb Beveridge finished with 20 points including a trio of threes and Aaron Small had five assists.
Pakenham pulled away late in the second quarter in a comfortable win.
Braden Venning’s side will face bottom-placed Gippsland on the road on Saturday at 5pm.
