Big V Youth League Women Round 13 – Werribee Devils 64 v Warrandyte Venom 69, Saturday June 25th, 2016

Youth League Women (2^nd, 10-3) 64 lost to Warrandyte Venom (1^st, 12-2) 69

Werribee	14	14	15	21	64
Warrandyte	21	9	12	27	69

Natasha Currao 15 points, 5 rebounds

Charlotte Vincent-Lord 11 points, 3 rebounds

Eliza Herne 9 points, 7 rebounds

Alex Moss 9 points, 10 rebounds

Taylah Lea 6 points, 9 rebounds

Tegan Hindle 5 points, 6 rebounds

Rachel Miller 5 points

Teaghan Doyle 4 points, 5 rebounds

In Round 13 the Werribee Devils Youth League Women (2^nd, 10-3) hosted the Warrandyte Venom (1^st, 12-2) in a top-of-the-table clash at Eagle Stadium. Their previous encounter was in Round 4, and the Venom got up by two points, 58-56.

Both teams took a while to get going, and they traded baskets early on. Charlotte Vincent-Lord hit a couple of free throws early on and Taylah Lea scored the Devils first field goal three minutes into the match. Their next score was three minutes later courtesy of Alex Moss, but not before the Venom hit a couple of baskets themselves, to open an early lead. The Moss basket was answered by an Maddison Taylor three-pointer, then a free throw from Moss was followed by five points from Ellie Locke and Michaela Kuen, and the Venom found themselves with a double digit lead. Natasha Currao stepped up for the Devils with seven points in the last two minutes of the quarter and the Devils trailed by seven at the first break. Moss and Currao were the main contributors on the scoreboard for the Devils, while Teaghan Doyle (3) and Lea (5) helped out with the rebounding.

Moss started things off for the Devils in the second quarter, but the Venom put together five consecutive points to again take the lead to double digits. Vincent-Lord scored as she was fouled and made the bonus free throw, only to be answered by a couple of baskets from the visitors. In the last six minutes of the quarter the Devils began to gain some momentum, a 9-0 run getting them within two points at half time. Vincent-Lord and Moss scored four points for the Devils, while Currao, Doyle and Eliza Herne had two points each. The rebounding load was also shared, with Tegan Hindle (4), Moss (4) and Jenna Thomas (3) the main contributors.

Ellie Locke hit a three-pointer to kick-start the Venom, but from there the third quarter was a see-sawing contest. Every time the Devils would give themselves a chance to take the lead, the Venom managed to score in reply. When Herne hit a three-pointer and Hindle sank a couple of free throws inside the last two minutes, the game was tied up. Kuen responded for the Venom, followed by a basket from Rachel Miller. When Hindle nailed a trey with 0.21 left in the quarter, the Devils had the lead for the first time in the match and went to three-quarter time in a positive frame of mind.

As expected, the final quarter was hotly contested and both teams traded blows on the scoreboard early on. The Devils managed to maintain their narrow lead. The turning point came with 4.40 to go, when Taylor hit a three, giving the Venom back the lead. Locke and Izzy Feller added baskets over the next 90 seconds while the Devils remained scoreless. This gave the Venom a five point lead, which would eventually be the final margin. Lea, Moss (four points for the quarter), Herne (four points) and Currao (four points) all scored in the last three minutes and did their best to keep the Devils in the game, but Venom’s Izzy Feller was equal to the task, scoring eight points herself in that same period. In the end, once the Venom got the lead back in the final minutes, they did what they needed to in order to keep it and walk away with a five point win, 69-64.

In Round 14 the Devils (3^rd, 10-4) host the Coburg Giants (4^th, 8-6) on Sunday at 1.00pm. The last match between the two clubs was in Round 3 and the Devils triumphed in overtime, 77-71.

Werribee v Warrandyte - Box Score and Stats

Werribee v Warrandyte - LiveStats and Play-by-Play

Werribee v Warrandyte - Full Game on YouTube