THE Portland Coasters’ Country Basketball League women’s side has responded to last week’s loss in emphatic fashion, winning two from two in the South West Conference from their double header weekend.

The young Coasters back up a Saturday afternoon victory on their home court against Surfcoast, 70-62, with a huge win against Horsham on the road on Sunday, 69-46.

The 3pm clash on Saturday saw the Coasters rotate through their 12 players to provide plenty of rest for the side to face up against Horsham on Sunday.

Portland got off to a strong start in the first quarter, developing an eight-point lead before letting Surfcoast back in the game in the second quarter.

Foul trouble was a huge factor in the second term, with Portland hitting five fouls in the first four minutes to send Surfcoast to the line on every foul.

Despite Surfcoast finding some opportunities Portland managed to hold them off with defensive efforts from Tanielle Knight and Tyleah Barr helping them to sit four points ahead leading into the third term.

The third quarter played out evenly before Portland put their foot down in the fourth term with Lexie Petch and Barr creating some crucial opportunities in offence.

With five points separating the teams with only a few minutes left on the clock, a three-point shot from Summer Millard gave Portland a big enough buffer to close out the game.

It was an impressive performance from the young side with their ability to hold out the game while under foul trouble a big learning experience.

“It was such a great game for us,” head coach Ellen Zeunert said.

“The more you get into those situations where it’s close and tough the more experience you get in how to play in those moments; it becomes about making the right choices, getting that one steal, rebound, stop or shot.

“Some of those young girls played really well, Sienna (Stone) had a great game and Summer is really getting reward for effort – she stood up in the dying minutes and got that shot in which was a really important one.”

While it was a strong performance and their first recorded win for the season, Zeunert said there’s still plenty to build on moving forward.

“I thought we struggled with our defensive boards, they really smashed us in that area which is something for us to work on,” she said.

“Jacci (Piergrosse) has been fantastic and really crucial in rebounds for us.

“We also had some players start a bit slowly and shots weren’t dropping early but in the end that was a positive because they were able to find a way into the game; they were patient and let the game come to them which was really pleasing.”

Millard top scored for Portland hitting 15 points for the match with Barr slotting 14.

Coasters dominate in first away game

Portland hit the road for their first away game in Horsham on Sunday and finished with a resounding 23-point win.

With less than 24 hours to turn around the Coasters worked their way into the game on Sunday with the game kicking off at midday.

It was an up and down first half before Portland put their foot down in the second half to dominate their opponent with their run and gun game play.

Tanielle Knight stood up in her second game for the side, recording 28 points and rising to the occasion.

“Tanielle went up a notch in the second half after having a bit more court time with the team across one and a half games she just showed up,” Zeunert said.

“The other players also got used to how Tanielle plays and it all came together really nicely in the second half.”

Horsham is known for their solid structures in offence and plenty of experience on court, which Zeunert says they worked hard to combat.

“We were sitting where we wanted to at half time, I think we were one or two points down, we knew coming off the road we’d be a bit slow to start and need to work our legs into the game,” she said.

“We changed up our defence a lot and tried to be disruptive so they couldn’t set up.

“Tyleah got her hands on a lot of the ball and she reads the play so well; everyone upped their ante a bit in defence and that lifted us.

“We stuck to our transition game, we knew if we kept our transition run going we can break the game open and in the end our legs were able to run them out of the game.”

The two victories on the weekend mean Portland is sitting with a two win and one loss record to kick off their 2022-23 campaign.

Portland’s two matches were the only CBL South West Conference women’s games over the weekend.