2024 BIG V GAME BOOKLET - WEEK 3

VJBL TEAMS OF THE WEEK

We welcome the players, coaches and families from the following teams who will actively participate in the BIG V Game experience today!

COACHES CORNER – PREVIEW FROM THE COACH

After a successful 2023 and a longer-than-usual off-season, it is great to be back on court with the team after a good pre-season. A core group of players have returned which is great to see, with a few additions and debutants.

Charlotte Vincent-Lord provides NBL1 experience, having played at Sandringham and Dandenong and has been a great addition to the club assisting and mentoring our U18-1 women Sarae Beveridge and Nikki Cross have come across from McKinnon's Championship Women's team and provide some great scoring punch.

We congratulate two debutants in Tahlia Leeson and Keira Lindemans who join the Championship Women’s program after successful junior and Youth League careers at Bulleen. Tahlia has come off winning the MVP, All-Star 5, and leading scorer award for Youth League 1 Keira joined her teammate on the awards podium securing the Defensive Player of the Year award for Youth League 1 women. Both were integral in the Youth League team being elevated to the Championship Division for this season. The seamless addition of these two demonstrates the development pathway we are trying to build at the club.

Our first game tonight is against Warrnambool who have been elevated from Division 1 Women, after back-to-back championships (and another 6 titles between 2005 and 2018). Their long-term core of players is led by Dakota Crichton, whose successful junior career saw her represent Victoria Metro on multiple occasions Warrnambool has added Julia Nielacna, who played NCAA D1 for Cal Poly and averaged 5.8 points and 2.0 rebounds per game.

Warrnambool have a culture of being tough on defense and playing winning basketball, so it will be a great challenge for our squad. We need to be disciplined in guarding them in transition and controlling the pace of the game

BULLEEN

BAUM

STATE CHAMP WOMEN PROUDLY SPONSORED BY

COACHES CORNER – PREVIEW FROM THE COACH

Welcome back from the Easter break for our second home game of 2024. It’s always a tricky time on the BIG V calendar to navigate the stop-start nature at this stage of the season.

We also have the unfavorable scenario of a bye next week added to the equation so we’re placing a high emphasis on coming locked in and ready to hold home court playing the brand of basketball that brought us success in the latter part of 2023 albeit with different personnel.

In our most recent game back on the 24th March we struggled to contain Whittlesea on the road in the half-court which was compounded by subpar free-throw shooting (7/19) that saw us take a 14-point loss.

We took time this week at training to get back to our values of playing with a hard edge on the defensive end and considering the turnover of the roster in the off-season we are still adapting line-ups to find where everybody’s individual strengths can come to the fore.

Kraig Shields has started the season efficiently in his first two outings but we have plenty of work to do to unpack the potential of this roster.

Tonight’s match-up see’s Warrnambool make the long trek who have been a perennial finalist over the years at both Championship and Division 1 level. New import Kester Ofoegbu has hit the ground running averaging 25ppg & 7rpg in his first two BIG V appearances leading a youthful group of seaside locals.

The Seahawks had a narrow 5pt loss to Warrandyte in Round 1 but were comprehensively beaten in Round 2 by RMIT while missing some key mature leaders which we expect will have coach Shane Smith keen to reverse.

To all the fans we appreciate your support, I hope you enjoy the night and spread the word as we would love to pack out EDSC throughout the season.

DIVISION 1 MEN