By Justin Schwarze
It doesn’t matter how it looks as long as you’re in front when the final siren goes.
The composure and guts the Pakenham Championship Women displayed on Sunday are some of the main reasons the team now sits top of the table.
Not only were the Warriors in a hostile environment on the road, but they were matched up with (at the time) first-placed Bellarine.
After a competitive first half, the Storm led 43-37 at the main break.
Out of the gates in the second half, the hosts attempted to extend the lead into a blowout, opening the third with an 11-0 run and widening the margin to 17.
However, Pakenham then sparked seven minutes of madness to flip the game on its head.
Grace Graham started to heat up, scoring 11 points with three made triples, kickstarting an unbelievable 7-29 avalanche to close out the term.
Bellarine could not believe the offensive barrage, with the Warriors going from down 17 to up five in the same quarter.
Just when it seemed the game had no more twists, Pakenham stalled down the stretch and couldn’t produce scoring as the Storm crept back into the contest.
The Warriors led by eight with under three minutes to play but poor passing and turnovers opened the door for Bellarine.
Courtney Hollowood knocked down a three off a textbook skip pass from Jaimee Crombie to cut it back to five.
On the following possession, the Storm fronted Eliza Hollingsworth in the post, forcing Skye Rees to overthrow her pass out of bounds trying to loop it over.
Bellarine further trimmed the deficit when Pakenham was in a scramble off a Storm offensive rebound.
The hosts found their open player and Crombie connected from deep.
Once again, a poor entry pass from the Warriors was swiped away but they were let off the hook when the Storm couldn’t score.
After a couple of empty possessions at both ends, yet another intercepted inboard pass thrown by Pakenham allowed Charlotte Armstrong to tie up the ball game and have a chance to take the lead through an and-one.
Armstrong couldn’t convert on her three-point play but Chelsea Schreuder misfired from downtown on the next play.
With the game knotted and 30 seconds on the clock, Bellarine had a chance to take the lead.
Rees then stood tall to force a tough shot and Hollingsworth cleared with the defensive board.
The Warriors wanted to run the clock down as much as possible and get close to the last shot, but were happily surprised when Graham came around a screen and was foolishly fouled by Armstrong reaching in.
Pakenham was in the bonus and Graham was clutch, going 2/2 from the line.
After a timeout, the hosts got a pretty good look at the rim but it bounced off and Rees hauled in a very important rebound.
The Storm were forced to foul, sending Rees back to the stripe for a pair.
Unlike Graham, Rees missed both but Hollingsworth came up huge, outmuscling her defender to secure the offensive rebound and cleverly kick the ball out as time expired, giving the Warriors a 79-81 victory.
“It was definitely a game of momentum swings, that’s for sure,” head coach Elli Gibson said.
“We just had the mentality of one play at a time and we got good shots.
“We played out of our sets and trusted each other to read the defence and see what was the best shot.
“What I’m most impressed with is the girls’ attitude and composure to be able to be 17 down and then later get up 10.
“Then when it came back to a draw, our composure was great to be able to stay in the course and keep playing without letting it fluster everybody.”
The win pushes Pakenham to first on the ladder, handing Bellarine just its second loss for 2025.
Gibson noted that the achievement of being in that spot is a testament to her side.
“It’s credit to the girls for all their hard work and commitment at training and following the process of the gameplan that we put into place,” she said of being first.
“It’s a little bit of recognition for their hard work and commitment to the group.”
However, coming into the contest, the group didn’t concern themselves with standings or positioning.
The Warriors were just ready to play and prepared for a high-level opponent.
“We don’t really talk about the ladder a lot, we just focus on the opposition for that week regardless of where they sit on the ladder,” Gibson said.
“We’ve got a lot of respect for Bellarine, they’re such a fantastic team with the way they go about it on and off the floor, they’re one of the benchmarks of the competition this year.
“We did a good job of following our gameplan and trying to eliminate theirs as much as we could, we knew if we could do that we were in with a shot.”
