Penrith's senior basketball teams lost two of three games on the weekend of May 24-25, in round 9 of the Waratah Championship League competition.
The Davlin Security Panthers women's team were missing Tahlia Tupaea on Saturday night, due to her commitments with the Australian Under 17 Women's Squad, but put in a strong performance against the highly-ranked Hornsby Spiders. Taylah Clark, Rohanee Cox and Alicia Poto were the stand-outs for the Panthers, who only trailed by the odd point all night before falling 76-71.
The men's game was a total rout in favour of the Pioneer Tavern Panthers men's team, who cruised to a 108-68 win over the Spiders men. Ben Kearins was away in China on duties with the Sydney Kings NBL team but his absence was hardly noticed, as every player on the Penrith roster got significant minutes and all performed impressively.
Sunday's away game to the Illawarra Hawks was expected to be yet another rout for the Panthers men, given the Hawks had put in an absolute shocker against the Newcastle Hunters on Saturday night. The Hawks played their worst game of the year, falling to an ignominious 93-40 loss to the Hunters in Newcastle. Penrith were therefore totally unprepared for Sunday's result, which saw the previously lacklustre Hawks lead from the outset, building their margin in every quarter on their way to a 87-68 win.
Penrith assistant coach Adam Peterson said: "We just didn't have any chemistry today. We were bad for a few minutes and suddenly we were 15 points behind and playing catch-up.".
Women: Hornsby Spiders 76 def Davlin Security Panthers 71 (Rohanee Cox 24 points, 11 boards; Alicia Poto 21 points, 8 boards; Taylah Clark 11 points). Men: Pioneer Tavern Panthers 108 (Nic Pozoglou 24 points, Sean Albert 24, Nic Pozoglou 14, Emlyn Dodd 10) def Hornsby Spiders 68; Illawarra Hawks 87 def Pioneer Tavern Panthers 68 (Emlyn Dodd 12 points; Sean Albert 12,\; Louis Brandt 10; Nic Pozoglou 8 points, 8 boards).
