Season over for Warriors

by Nicholas Duck
It's game over for the Warragul Warriors after both sides were knocked out in Saturday night's Country Basketball League semi finals.
A heavily depleted Warriors women team was up first away from home against Morwell Magic where a 32-point blitz from Kailey Neave wasn't enough to prevent a 59-73 loss.
Like the women's side, the Warriors men played away against Pakenham and were ultimately brought undone by a slow first half, which saw them trail by as much as 19 before going on to lose 87-94.
Things were always going to be difficult for the Warriors women after a number of unavailable players left them with just seven taking the floor, including a still sore Jamie Chapman.
Bec Orwin and Alysha Marcucci were just some of the names missing from the Warragul side, who were also contending with having not played for three weeks as a result of the CBL fixturing.
Despite that, things began brightly when the Warriors burst out of the blocks, taking a seven-point lead into quarter time.
It was all downhill from there, however, as the weight of numbers and experience won out for Morwell, who used a barnstorming 22-9 second quarter to take control of the game.
Despite the best efforts of Neave, Sophie Taylor (11 points) and Beth Quadara (11 points) it wasn't to be as the Warriors bowed out of their campaign to defend last year's title.
Olivia Ouchirenko (22 points), Kayla Welsh (21) and Abbey Noblett (20) led the way for the Magic.
Warragul head coach Tony Marcucci said it was a tough end to the year.
"I'm devastated for the girls...it's not the way I envisaged the season panning out," he said.
"The girls tried hard, it just wasn't to be."
Warragul's men's side also were found wanting, after a near miraculous comeback fell just short against Pakenham.
It was a slow start for the visitors, who found themselves struggling to adjust to the pace of a CBL game following three weeks off the court.
Warragul often found themselves in good positions, but some poor decision making in the key led to Pakenham getting the jump, leaping out to an early lead that climbed to as high as 19 points partway through the second quarter.
The absence of Luke McKenzie also made things challenging as the young Warragul team found themselves 15 down at the main break.
Despite that, the visitors stuck to the task, bringing the game back over the course of the second half thanks to some defensive adjustments.
On the offensive end Jordan Gooiker and Riley Morehu did the bulk of the work, scoring 21 points each to help lift their side into the lead early in the last quarter.
Just when it looked as if Warragul were on the verge of another famous comeback, Pakenham steadied late with some dagger three-pointers, helped in part by Liam Fitzpatrick being fouled out just minutes before the final bell.
It was another year of close but not close enough for Warragul's men's side, who bowed out in a semi final in 2023 and lost last year's CBL final by three points.
Warragul coach Mike Bridgman was immensely proud of his side despite the loss, saying the breakthrough wasn't far away.
"We're very close, you can see that we're close," he said.
"Losing sucks, but I think we lost in the right way. We went out all guns blazing."
Bridgman said he was fully confident his side, whose average age skewed much younger than most of the league, would win a championship before long and that it would be all the sweeter after coming so close multiple times.
The other preliminary finals saw Moe Meteors defeat Maffra Eagles 100-82 in the men's and Korumburra Wildcats knock off Pakenham Warriors 86-68 in the women's.
The grand finals will take place this Saturday at Cardinia Life and Aquatic Centre with the women's game between Korumburra and Morwell kicking off proceedings at 5:15pm.
Moe and Pakenham will play off for the men's title at 8pm.
The Warragul Warriors also held their senior presentation night at the Warragul Country Club last week.
The awards for both the men's and women's teams are as follows:
Rising star: George Morgan (men's), Shayla Smith (women's).
Defensive player of the year: Kaden Gregg (men's), Brooke de Riter (women's).
Most valuable player: Xavier Adams (men's), Kailey Neave (women's).
Senior club person of the year: Isabella McEwan.