THE SANDRINGHAM Sabres have continued their dominant 2025 VJBL U18 Girls campaign, moving to the top of the table in the newly formed VC Championship competition, defeating the Keilor Thunder by a whopping 44 points in a warning to the remainder of the competition.

The Sabres were the premier team in the VC Ashe division, going undefeated in the first couple of months, and look destined to continue that trend after a red-hot start to the new format following regrading.

The Thunder were simply no match for Sandringham, who has now recorded two wins from two games to open the new stage of the 2025 season, and will certainly take some catching in the coming months based on current form.

Keilor Thunder (42) def. by Sandringham Sabres (86)

The Sabres stamped their authority on the match early in Friday night’s contest at Keilor Stadium, scoring the first 14 points of the match in a true reflection of the gap between them and the rest of the competition. Although the Thunder managed to equalise the contest as the frame rolled on, the home side still trailed by 15 points at the first change.

Sandringham’s dominance continued into the second period, continuing to prove unstoppable on the offensive end and pushing its lead out to as much as 21 points, although a late charge from the Thunder brought that back to 16 at half-time.

The third quarter reflected the first in many ways, with the Sabres potent on both ends of the floor and storming out to an even bigger buffer to put the game to bed out of half-time. Sandringham was doing as it pleased and led by 26 points with 10 minutes to play in an emphatic showing.

Although they could have taken the foot off the accelerator, the visitors continued to stretch their lead out even further with a massive final term. The Thunder could only muster seven points in the last 10 minutes and ended up falling by a whopping 44 points.

Melinna Kapetanas was the standout for the Sabres, dropping 24 points to lead the way in a tremendous team performance. Also impressing was Madison Ryan, who had 12 points of her own, but it was the performance of the Sabres as a whole that was most ominous, with every player hitting the scoreboard and eight players scoring six or more points.

For the Thunder, Lily Mikic and Chiara Cuzzilla fought valiantly to try and generate some much-needed offence for the home side. The pair combined for 25 of the team’s 42 points in a gutsy display despite the result.

ACROSS THE COURTS

Geelong United moved to second spot in the standings, joining the Sabres as the two undefeated sides in the VC Championship division, defeating the Melbourne Tigers by 10 points at MSAC on Friday night in a strong road win.

The McKinnon Cougars also got the job done in enemy territory, heading to Mullum Mullum Stadium and handing the Bulleen Boomers a 10 point loss in what was a tightly contested match for most of the game.

In another close affair, the Eltham Wildcats continued the trend of road teams getting the job done by leaving Kilsyth Stadium with a seven-point triumph over the Wildcats in a low-scoring, scrappy contest a lot of the time.

Remarkably, the Dandenong Rangers and Nunawading Spectres could not be split when they went head to head at Dandenong Stadium on Friday night, splitting the points in a thrilling finish after Zara Sestan tied up proceedings in the dying seconds at the free throw line.