Holmes, Pili star as Venom blow out Flames at HoopsFest

Written by Lachlan Sherriff

(Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

In a season that hasn’t exactly been successful for the Geelong Venom, they went into today’s game with hopes they could record a rare victory against the Sydney Flames, who only had two more wins then bottom-placed Geelong entering the match.

It was a brilliant start for the Venom, who took a 9-2 lead thanks to four points from Mackenzie Holmes, forcing the Flames into an early timeout.

The Flames began to claw back into the game, and would hold a narrow 21-20 lead at quarter time, but Holmes was now up to ten points and eight rebounds, finishing the first quarter only two rebounds shy of a double-double.

Holmes would go on to record her double-double early in the second quarter, ending the first half with fifteen points and twelve rebounds. But the second quarter was all about her teammate Alissa Pili, who had nineteen points at half time despite failing to score in the second quarter.

Thanks to Holmes and Pili, as well as a three-point buzzer-beater from Jazmin Shelley, the Venom had a 54-48 lead at half time. 

Unique Thompson was the Flames’ top scorer at half time with ten points, while Carla Pittman and Keely Froling were right behind her with nine, but it was clear they’d need an even bigger second half to stop the Venom from winning.

Unfortunately for the Flames, it would only get worse in the third quarter. Alissa Pili and Mackenzie Holmes were simply unguardable, as Pili had 28 points at the end of the third quarter, while Holmes had 22 points and twelve rebounds.

And with the Flames simply having no response to the Venom’s dominance, Geelong cruised to a 89-65 lead at the end of the third quarter.

(Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

From that point, it would never get better for the Flames. Geelong won 103-77 and recorded only their fifth victory of the season.

Holmes and Pili both ended with 28 points, with the former grabbing fifteen rebounds and the latter recording seven assists. Holmes also impressed on the defensive end with four blocks, while Pili had two steals.

Elsewhere for Geelong, Jazmin Shelley and Shyna Heal both had twelve points. Unique Thompson was a bright light on a dark day for Sydney as she recorded a double-double with twelve points and ten rebounds, while Keely Froling was the Flames’ top scorer with fourteen points.

Despite a promising first half, the Flames fell away drastically after half-time, which coach Renae Garlepp put down to intensity.

"It definitely felt (we dropped our) intensity . We just kind of dropped off, and they kept going up. They shot the ball really well, and they played really well. And we didn't."

- Renae Garlepp on Sydney's second half

As for Alissa Pili, she was happy with her game, and especially her massive second quarter.

"We had a decent first quarter. It was still pretty close, but I think I had to talk with our guards going into the second quarter about the advantages that we could look at and just exploit. And so I think they did a really good job of reading that and getting us bigs the ball when we had a guard on us. I think through that second quarter, I was just doing exactly that, just exploiting the mismatches."

- Alissa Pili on scoring nineteen points in the second quarter

Geelong will return to action next weekend at home against Adelaide, while Sydney will look to cause a major upset against Perth, who are currently top of the WNBL.