Round 8 action in Big V saw great bounce back games by our Youth Champ Men and Women to get back on the winners list.

Our Champ Women had a critical game against finals contender the McKinnon Cougars, and after a disappointing effort last week put it together for a great win.

Not a great weekend for our Champ Men in two tough game against the top teams, going down in both games.

Here's the weekly wrap.

Youth Championship Women

After splitting a tough double header last weekend, our Youth Women in theory had an easier match up this week at home against the Geelong Supercats. But sometimes these sort of games can end up danger games for the home favourite.

And during the first half, the girls looked less than convincing, managing to create plenty of scoring opportunities, but not putting scoreboard pressure on Geelong. At half time, the Boomers led by 6, and the Supercats may have thought they were in with a shot at a big upset.

Whatever Coach Gary Fox said at half time it sure worked, as it all clicked for the Boomers in the second half with a couple of big scoring quarters allowing the girls to run away with a strong win 82 - 54.

Great to see young Kara Tessari stepping up with a big game of 19 points to lead the scoresheet, with great support from Emma Pearce and Bridgett O'Neill with 13 points each.

Youth Championship Men

A tough loss last game to ladder leaders Kilsyth, but our Youth Men bounced back hard against local rivals the Eltham Wildcats to grab an important away win.

The boys were not about to let this one slip, coming out hard in the first half to stun the Wildcats and lead by 17 at half time. The Boomers powered on the third quarter, before Coach Rob Grieve was able to get valuable minutes into his bench in the last quarter as the boys eased down a little but recorded a solid win 71 - 52.

Without Chris Nave on the floor, great to see Evan Solakidis stepping up for his best game of the season to lead the sheet with 16 points and 4 boards. Tom Kielty grabbed a double double of 12 points and 10 boards, while the ever reliable "Freddy" Kruger was also close with 12 points and 8 boards.

Great to see that the boys are sharing it around with different players stepping up in each game - always strength come finals time.

State Championship Women

After a shocker last week to lose badly to Hume, our Champ Women had a big challenge this week to bounce back but also grab an advantage over fellow finals contender the McKinnon Cougars.

And this was a tight one early with both teams pouring on the defensive pressure and neither able to break away. Through the second quarter the Boomers just managed to hit a couple of crucial shots to edge out to a narrow lead.

The second half was almost basket for basket the whole way, with McKinnon fighting hard to close the gap, but the Boomers always just doing enough to hold the lead. In the end it was a solid win for the girl 57 - 49, despite not hitting a three for the whole game and with some pretty ordinary shooting from the foul line (11 from 24 for the game).

Gab Tarabolsi had her best game for the Boomers with a big double double of 16 points and 10 boards, Lauren Pearce chipping in with 10 points. The rest of the scoring was shared around the team.

We expect there will be a fair bit of free throw practice at training during the week.

State Championship Men

A tough weekend for our Champ Men with matchups against two of the top teams in Waverley and Corio Bay.

On Saturday night, Waverley were pretty much unstoppable for most of the game, opening up a big lead which the Boomers were never going to close. While the Falcons eased down in the last quarter, the boys went down 76 - 97.

Brett Fennell was best for the Boomers with 16 points, while KGG had 13 points and Liam Norton 10.

And it didn't get any easier on Sunday, with the Boomers taking on Corio Bay in an away game. Once again the Boomers struggled to contain the opposition defensively and while they fought hard went down in a high scoring affair 99 - 111.

Liam Norton had another big shooting game with 27 points and 7 assists, while Scotty Cuffe and KGG both had double doubles with 24 points/10 boards and 15 points/14 boards respectively.

 

Another Championhip double header next weekend on Saturday night at EDSC, as our Champ Women have another big game against the Waverley Falcons, while our Champ Men take on Hume City. Games tip off at 6pm and 8pm respectively, be there to support our Big V Boomers.