By David Nagel
The Pakenham Warriors had a great start to the month of May on the weekend winning four of the five contests that the men, women and youth teams competed in.
The Warriors highest-ranked team in Big V competition – Division One Women – scored a fantastic come-from-behind victory over Western Port to climb to second place on the ladder.
The Warriors got off to a fast start, but were outplayed 9-20 in the third stanza as Western Port took control of the contest. Trailing 50-53 at the final break, the Warriors needed players to stand tall and there was no shortage of talent to put their hands up.
Tarryn Wilkin finished off a great game with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Steph Pal (17 points) and Taylor Jones (15 points) were influential as the Warriors scored 24-11 in the final term to run out 74-64 winners.
Keeley Patterson scored 10 points to also be effective, while valuable court time from Jacinta Maxwell, Sarah Slater, Shannon Patterson and Christine Stiglich all contributed to the victory.
The Warriors, who sit second with a five-two record, host fourth-placed Warrandyte at Cardinia Life at 6pm this Saturday.
A slow start cost the Warriors’ Division One Men’s team with Pakenham going down 69-78 to Whittlesea.
The Warriors trailed by 13 and 12 at the first two breaks before a 23-16 third stanza cut the scores back to 58-63 at the end of the third period. Despite 22 points from Josh Dow and 16 from Alistair Parker, and fine games from Trent Lee, Nathan Dodgson and Hayden Davey – the Warriors fell short to take their record to two wins and six losses.
And things don’t get any easier this Saturday with the Warriors welcoming the undefeated ladder-leaders in Altona to Cardinia Life for an 8pm start to proceedings.
The big success story of the weekend was the Youth League Two Women, who scored back-to-back victories to move to a seven-one record and third place on the ladder.
A monstrous effort from Alahna Arnason highlighted the Warriors 75-63 home-court win over Western Port on Saturday night.
Arnason was like salt and pepper – in everything, dragging down an incredible 26 boards to go with 18 points in a standout individual performance. Caitlin Demczuk was an able ally, scoring 12 points, as the Warriors took some confidence into their road-trip to Melton on Sunday.
The Warriors had this one locked away early, leading 40-16 at the half before cruising to an 80-50 victory.
Arnason was once again superb, gaining her second double-double for the weekend with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while 15 points from Cate Zemunik, and 10 each from Christine Stiglich and Chelsea Schreuder saw the Warriors prove too strong.
The Warriors’ Youth Women’s team travel to Coburg on Saturday night for a 6.30pm tip-off.
And an incredible final-quarter onslaught from the Pakenham Youth League Two Men saw the Warriors secure a 91-71 win over Whittlesea.
The Warriors trailed at all three intervals, but produced a stunning 36-12 final term to run out convincing winners.
Michael Johns was the stand out with a 16-point, 13-rebound double-double, while the depth of scoring options proved too much for Whittlesea in the end.
Lauchlan Mark (19 points), Michael Johns (16), Dylan Jenkinson (15), Josh Norton (13) and Henry Ward (11) all made significant contributions to the victory, which takes the Warriors to a five-three record and into fourth place on the Terrill Conference ladder.
The Youth Men now have a week off before travelling to Sunbury on May 15.
