Big V Division One Women Round 13 – Werribee Devils 54 v Chelsea Gulls 74, Saturday June 25th, 2016

Division One Women (10^th, 2-11) 54 lost to Chelsea Gulls (6^th, 7-6) 74

Werribee	7	13	16	18	54
Chelsea	14	14	26	20	74

Bex Van Kuyk 24 points, 16 rebounds

Jessica Slade 13 points, 13 rebounds

Doni Lewis 10 points, 3 assists

Jackie Silcock 4 rebounds, 3 assists

Nicole Greene 9 rebounds, 4 steals

In Round 13, the Werribee Devils Division One Women travelled to take on the Chelsea Gulls. The previous meeting between the two clubs was back in Round 7 and Chelsea won it 103-63.

The Gulls started better, jumping to a 10-0 lead after five minutes thanks to Billie Lucas who scored eight of the ten points. Bex Van Kuyk (five points, four rebounds) finally got the Devils on the board and was joined by Nicole Greene. The Gulls got their lead out to 11, before baskets to Van Kuyk and Greene pegged the margin back slightly and neither team scored in the final two minutes of the quarter. The Devils seven point first quarter total was their lowest for the season so far. Greene grabbed four rebounds, while Jessica Slade and Jackie Silcock had three each.

The second quarter was an even contest, with the margin hovering in single digits in favour of the Gulls. Jasmine Lovejoy started the Gulls off but was quickly answered by Jackie Silcock. Slade and Van Kuyk combined for four unanswered points which brought the Devils within five. The teams traded baskets for the rest of the quarter and the Gulls only managed to add one point to their quarter time lead. Devils coach Mahaela Jackson became ‘playing coach’ when she subbed in for her first run of the season with 3:21 left in the quarter. Slade led the Devils with seven points and four rebounds for the quarter, while Lewis and Jackie Silcock contributed two points each. Greene had three rebounds, while Van Kuyk had two assists and three rebounds.

The two teams went goal-for-goal in the early stages of the third term, with the Gulls Lucas trading blows with Van Kuyk and Lewis, but a 13-2 Gulls run through the middle stages of the quarter blew the margin out to 19 with 4.39 remaining. Slade and Van Kuyk did their best to stem the flow, but another eight unanswered points increased the Gulls lead late in the quarter. Van Kuyk scored the last four points of the quarter for the Devils, but they faced an 18-point deficit at the final break. Van Kuyk dominated for the Devils with 10 points and five rebounds, while Lewis and Slade each scored three. Jackson grabbed a couple of rebounds and Jackie Silcock gave away a couple of assists.

The Devils have struggled in fourth quarters in recent weeks, but to their credit they didn’t let this one get away. A Jodie Ferguson 3-pointer inside the first 20 seconds was answered by Slade and Lewis. Lewis scored again, and then four points from Olivia Luttrell were answered by Van Kuyk. Five points from Lucas put the margin back out past 20 but Van Kuyk, Slade and Jasmine Silcock replied again. A Lucas three-pointer in the final seconds resulted in a 20-point win to the home side, which from the Devils point of view was a huge improvement on their previous matchup. Van Kuyk finished with eight points and four rebounds for the quarter, joined by Lewis with five points and two rebounds. Slade had three points and five rebounds and Greene nabbed three steals.  

In Round 14 the Devils (10^th, 2-12) have a double header. On Saturday night they travel to take on Latrobe City Energy (6^th, 8-6) and on Sunday they’re back at home against Hawthorn Magic (9^th, 4-10) at 3.00pm. Their previous match against Latrobe was in Round 4 and it was the Devils first win for the season, 82-71. They last took on Hawthorn in Round 6, and lost 90-91 in a double overtime classic.

Werribee v Chelsea - Box Score and Stats

Werribee v Chelsea - LiveStats and Play-by-Play

Werribee v Chelsea - Full Game on YouTube