Big V State Championship

Geelong Lady Cats (1-2)

vs. Waverley (1-1) @ The Arena Annexe, Sunday 3.00pm

The Lady Cats will be full of confidence after disposing of Eltham for their first win of the season on Sunday. However, Waverley will be a completely different proposition. Last year’s runner-up have plenty of talent, including former Sandringham big Alex Lough and ex-Melbourne Tiger Laura Thomas, but are coming off a 24 point loss to reigning champions Hume City. Geelong will again rely on co-captains Vicki Mallon and Sarah De Grandi to lead from the front, while young teenage talls Catherine Brockett and Amy Wormald will also get a chance to again show their wares after both scored in double figures last weekend.

Big V Division One

Geelong Cats (1-2)

vs. Southern Peninsula (2-1) @ Hillview Stadium, Saturday 7.30pm

It’ll be an undermanned Cats line-up which crosses Port Phillip Bay to play the Sharks. Captain Paul Hutchison, Leon O’Neill and Keith Harrison are all unavailable. Veteran big man Seb Loader (ankle) and guard Pat Phillips (dislocated shoulder) will also miss. Coach Greg Smith is expected to suit-up for the first time this year despite ankle problems, while Youth League starters Steven Wiasak, James Swallow and Nathan Moore are all a chance to receive a call-up. The Sharks, who Geelong knocked out of the play-off race in 2008, have made a solid start to the season with two wins and a loss. Import Carl Arts (33 ppg 12rpg) is the man the Cats will have to stop if they’re to come away with an unlikely win.

Big V Youth League Two

Geelong Cats (2-1)

vs. Chelsea (0-2) @ The Arena, Saturday 5.00pm

vs. Werribee (0-2) @ The Arena Annexe, Sunday 1.00pm

The Youth League squad has a rare opportunity to showcase their talents on The Arena Showcourt, as a curtain-raiser to the Geelong Supercats clash with Bendigo.  Coming off a solid win over Werribee last weekend, the junior Cats maybe without a couple of key
players against Chelsea due to the availability shortage in the men’s team. However this will give greater responsibility to the likes of experienced trio Simon Evans, Shane Hunter and Andrew Luttrell. On Sunday, Geelong meets Werribee for the third time in as many weeks, and with a full complement of players to pick from should be too strong again for the Devils.

Trash Talk:

1/ Grovedale 13 year-old David Kenny might still be five years away from legally getting behind the wheel, but he went agonisingly to owning a new car during three-quarter
time of the Supercats’ loss to Frankston on Saturday night. The teenager was the lucky Shoot To Win contestant after filling out the coupon in Friday’s Advertiser.
His shot from half-court hit the front of the rim, then the backboard, then the front of the rim again, before dropping to the floor.

2/ It was a tough choice for Lady Cats guard Olivia Cameron on the weekend. A talented local netballer with South Barwon, Cameron also plays in the newly formed Victorian Netball League with VU Western Lightning. Both were scheduled to play Sunday afternoon in Geelong- The Lady Cats played Eltham at 3pm on The Arena Annexe, while the Lightning started at 4pm against the Geelong Cougars on The Arena Showcourt. In the end the Lady Cats won out with Cameron helping Darren Busuttil’s charges to their first win of the season.

3/ Geelong’s Big V men’s side must have gone close to some sort of record in Sunday’s
Division One clash with Coburg at The Arena Annexe, jacking up 50 three-point attempts. however, only 15 hit the target, whereas the Giants were a little bit more circumspect from the land of plenty, hitting 12-of-21. In all the Cats put up 90 three-point attempts
from beyond the arc for the weekend, after taking 40 in the loss to Werribee on Saturday night.

4/ The Geelong Youth League squad will become the first and only Big V team to get to play before the Geelong Supercats this year on Saturday afternoon. The Dave Brown-coached
roster, which has started the season with 2-1 record, will meet Chelsea. The squad, which
plays an up-tempo brand of basketball, is well worth looking at.  Tip-off is at 5pm,
with the Supercats to follow, against Bendigo, at 7.30.

5/ Talks are underway between Basketball Geelong, Corio Bay Basketball Association and Bellarine Peninsula Basketball Association for a massive junior club tournament to be
held in the middle of the year across the region. The as yet unnamed event will
replace the Corio Bay Classic which has been held at Life. Be In It over the last couple of years.