By Jonty Ralphsmith
All four Pakenham sides had wins in the Big V competition on the weekend, with both senior teams netting crucial wins as the race for finals heats up.
Led by a controlling performance off the boards by Erica Meyer (15 rebounds including nine offensive), the senior women made it three wins on the bounce.
Skipper Mel Prior has also hit strong form with 15 points in Pakenham’s 81-62 victory at Cardinia Life over Camberwell, while Ebony Sans continued her trusty defensive form.
In each of Pakenham’s last four games, they have had strong sparks of momentum where they have been able to bury opposition with repeated defensive stops and a flurry of buckets.
Against Bellarine, a 25-10 finish saw Pakenham send it to overtime from nowhere; Pakenham jumped McKinnon and Hume 17-2 and 16-5 respectively; and on Saturday night they finished the second quarter with a 17-5 game-defining run.
Fifth-placed Pakenham’s last two victories have come against the bottom-placed sides and they will be hoping to replicate that form against the third-placed Bulleen on Saturday at East Doncaster.
The men followed the women in a home double header on Saturday night and came away with a 106-83 win.
A 15-6 finish to the second half opened up a buffer between the two teams, which Pakenham built on in the third quarter.
Tiras Morton backed up his strong outing in round 11 with 22 points and a customary nine defensive rebounds, while 12 of Cal McNiff’s 18 points came when the Warriors pulled away through the middle of the game.
Pakenham is currently sixth with an eight and seven record.
The youth men dismantled a bottom-placed Gippsland side wreaked by injury 129-35.
Gippsland was forced to play with just six men due to unavailability and were no match for the intensity, efficiency and class of Pakenham.
Hayden Melsen’s purple patch continued, leading the scoring with 21 points, to go with six assists.
“He’s shooting the ball at a high clip and an absolute bull,” said coach Braden Venning.
“He attacks the rim in transition, hits his jump shots and would be one of our better defensive players so it is good to see him get his rewards.”
All 12 players scored as Pakenham shot at 57 per cent from the field, including 46 per cent from deep.
Riley Pollard showed encouraging signs in his return match, while Cooper Lanting made all four of his attempted threes.
Chloe Zielinski led the way with 25 points in Pakenham’s youth women’s 86-45 victory over Ballarat at Cardinia Life on Sunday.
Zielinski finished with a mind-boggling stats-line: 25 points, 18 rebounds (12 offensive), four assists, six steals and a block.
The Warriors were dominant off the boards, with 77 rebounds to 47.
After setting the game up in the first quarter, Pakenham took full toll in a 21-4 second quarter.
Pakenham currently sits first with a 14-3 record and has at least a game in hand on the rest of the competition.
