PORTLAND’S women’s basketballers in the Country Basketball League are raring to go ahead of their home matchup with Warrnambool tomorrow evening.

Fresh off their Christmas break, the Coasters will be eager to make the most of their last three games before the end of the regular season, with a finals berth well and truly up for grabs, with the side currently sitting just one spot out of the finals due to percentage.

Coach Ellen Zeunert said that it’s simply a case of her side making the most of their opportunities in these last few weeks of the season.

“The good news is that it’s in our hands, if we win all three then we secure a spot in finals… but the important thing at this stage is to focus on the Warrnambool game first,” Zeunert said.

“They got us on the hop last time, they were really sharp, and they shot the lights out.

“They ran a trap defence in the third quarter which I think threw us off our game a little bit… we’ve spoken at training about how we can adjust to that.”

The benefit of the second matchup will be that the Mermaids no longer have the element of surprise when they bring in a more aggressive defensive set, with the hope being that Portland will be well prepared for whatever their opposition may choose to throw at them.

“We were below our best in that game and they barely put a foot wrong… hopefully we learnt something from that,” Zeunert said.

“But the main priority is our own game… getting the ball through hands and getting out and running in transition.

“It starts with our defence, if you’re always grabbing the ball out of your own net you don’t get a chance to get out and run in transition, which is the style of game we like to play.”

This game has maximum ladder implications, as a win would be enough to see the Coasters leapfrog both Warrnambool and Horsham into third place, although those teams will still have more games remaining to play after this weekend.

Regardless, this young and improving Portland side is more than up for the challenge, and they’ll take to their home court of Portland Basketball Stadium tomorrow, with the match set for a 6pm start.