Youth League Women
Waverley 61 defeated Ringwood 41
The Waverley Falcons have outclassed a determined Ringwood Hawks outfit with a comfortable 61 - 41 win at the Maroondah Indoor Sports Centre.
Despite trailing by 2 points at the first change, the Falcons, on the back of some great shooting by Caitlin Hindle (18 points, 7 steals, 4 assists) stormed back to take the lead as they outscored the home team 21 - 9 for the quarter.
A closer second half showed the Hawks were never going to give up the fight, but some poor shooting percentages proved costly as the Falcons continued to stretch their advantage. Jacinta Scott's 16 point haul for the Hawks was not enough to stop Waverley running out winners.
Waverley's win streak now stretches to 8 while the Hawks will be keen to snap their 3 game losing streak.
Waverley 58 defeated Hawthorn 31
The Waverley Falcons message to Hawthorn and the rest of the competition was clear and simple: “We are the best team in YLW and if you want to win this year, you’ll have to come through us”. This was displayed on the court with some beautiful basket that seemingly cut apart the Magic on both ends of the floor.
The most impressive aspect of this victory for the Falcons was the spread of contributors with no player required to explode in order to get the result. Instead they showed the sheer depth and polish that has seen them win 10 in a row and looking unstoppable.
The defense was stifling and it didn’t slow down until the final buzzer, the Magic only managing 118 from the field in the fourth s the relentless Falcons did they as chose and once again cementing themselves as the team to beat in 2010.
Youth League 1 Men
Ringwood 73 defeated Waverley 51
Two things had to happen if Ringwood were to come away with the win against the Falcons on Saturday night. A) Stop Dexter Kernich-Drew from dominating. Check. The Hawks held the college bound guard to his lowest output of the season, managing only 9 points and turning it over 8 times. B) Trent Zomer needed to go crazy. Check. Zomer was unbelievable yet again, piling up the stats with 31 points, grabbed 14 off the windows and sent 3 Falcon shots deep into the stands at Waverley. With these two down the result wasn’t questioned. Ringwood romped to a win and moved ahead of the Falcons who will need to find a way to win when DKD can’t contribute if they are to be a factor in the final series.
State Championship Women
Ringwood 73 defeated Waverley 69
Coming off a 2 game losing streak the Ringwood Lady Hawks came up against 2nd placed Waverly who had won the previous 3 games. Last time these teams met, Waverley dominated the boards, a weakness coach Tim Mottin was determined his team reversed this time around. After 4 tight quarters both teams were locked together at 59 points apiece.
While Ringwood did manage to dominate the boards (Tot Rebounds 40 to 26) their turnovers (23 to 15) and 3 point shooting (17%) let them down. The game headed into overtime and then into double overtime as the crowd was treated to some tough and determined basketball.
In the end the free throw shooting seemed to be the Achilles heel for Waverley as this time the Hawks saw themselves on the positive side of tight finish to snatch a well deserved win by 4 points. Amanda Behnke led the way with 20 points and 10 rebounds while Katie Shanahan and Katie Laviolette backed her up with 17 and 16 points respectfully. For the visitors, Suzie Porter and Alex Lough shot 17 and 18 points for Waverly.
State Championship Men
Ringwood 95 defeated Waverley 71
The Hawks have come out with a huge statement by knocking off contending Waverley by a considerable margin by game’s end. Probably the even bigger statement was that they could do it without NBL gun Daryl Corletto who was missing from the game. But such is the depth of this Ringwood squad with 200 gamer Matthew Snowball exploding for 28 points while import Kevin Ratzsch collected 19 points and 19 boards.
For Simon Blennerhassett (22 points and 10 rebounds) and Ivan Platenik (25 points and 18 rebounds) providing the only real resistance to the Hawks offensive onslaught with was ultimately their downfall for a Falcon squad that will have to do a bit of soul-searching if they are serious about being contenders this season.
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