The Altona Big V basketball season came to an early end after they were knocked of the semi-finals. 66479_05 Picture: SARAH MATRAY
By Liam Twomey
THE Altona Gators’ season drew to a dramatic close last weekend when they were bundled out of the Big V basketball competition in dramatic style.
Trailing rival Warrnambool 1-0 after losing game one of the three game series, the Gators had a weekend of do-or-die clashes ahead of them.
They managed to send the series into a deciding game after a double overtime victory on the Saturday night kept their premiership hopes alive.
However, they were forced to back up less than 24 hours later for the deciding game, which they lost by six points.
Altona Basketball Women’s coach Sharon Grieve said it was a tough way to finish the season.
“Coming out on Saturday night and going into double overtime to get the win showed just how much the girls wanted it and fought for it,” Grieve said
“It was always going to be a matter of which team pulled up better. We both had our fair share of tired players but I did feel like if there was an extra five minutes we could have over-run them.”
Despite the premature finals exit, Altona enjoyed a successful season, which saw them finish on top of the ladder with 16 wins and just four losses.
The Gators owe a big part of their success to scoring superstar Stacey Barr who dominated opposition sides all season.
Whittlesea Basketball Club won’t be forgetting Barr in a hurry after she scored 55 points against them when the clubs met in round 11.
“It’s been a real privilege to play with her. She really took it upon herself at the start of the season to step up and she did it well,” Grieve said
The question now remains what the Gators will do next season when they lose Barr to American College basketball.
“I think the process for next season has already started. We will be looking around for who is looking for a new team,” Grieve said
“Any players that want to join our club are always more than welcome.
“Our goal next year will be to finish in the top four again. It’s hard to know more than that at this stage until we see what changes will come during the off season and that sort of thing.”
