PORTLAND’S women’s basketballers couldn’t have asked for a better lead in to their Country Basketball League finals campaign, after defeating one of the premiership favourites for the season in Mount Gambier on Sunday, 54-51.

Defence dominated the first half, with the Coasters conceding just nine points in the first quarter, while the Lakers conceded only seven in the second, with the teams locked at 21-all at halftime.

Despite the Coasters’ youth, they showed fantastic grit and determination throughout the second half, managing to get their noses in front in the third quarter before staving off their opponents in the final term to come away with the win.

Coach Ellen Zeunert said it was a momentous win for her side which demonstrated just how far the team has come.

“It was a terrific win… we lost to this same team by 24 points the last time we played them all the way back in our first game of the season,” Zeunert said.

“It just goes to show the development this team has seen both from individual players and from the team as whole.”

What was perhaps most impressive about this win was that it came at a time when the things weren’t always going the Coasters’ way, as Zeunert said they didn’t capitalise on as many open looks as they would have liked.

“We had a lot of open shots throughout the game that we didn’t convert… we had to switch up our play style and focus more on dribble penetration and getting to the basket in the second half,” she said.

“We started crashing the rebounds better, and we did a pretty solid job of contesting their shots even when we were caught out of position.

“I thought early we were bailing them out and sending them to the free throw line… later on we did a better job of forcing them to make tough shots… if they go in, they go in.”

Zeunert emphasised that it was a game in which everyone played their role and contributed, however there remained a few stand out performers who helped get them over the line.

“You can see from the scoreboard that Tanielle (Knight) and Tyleah (Barr) were key players for us… Tyleah hit a clutch three to put us up with a few minutes to go,” she said.

“Lexi Petch played another great game defensively, she works really hard on that end and has great footwork.

“And Jacci Piergrosse was instrumental in getting us some late rebounds which helped keep us on top in the final moments.

“But everyone played their role, it was team effort to make our full-court press work and we did a great job of it.”

Portland now has a week off before the finals, with Zeunert saying that everything from now is an absolute bonus.

“We’ve gotten ourselves into the finals, which is a fantastic effort given the amount of players we lost since last season and the youth that we have in our line-up,” she said.

“Obviously Millicent are the benchmark of the competition… but at the end of the day who knows what will happen in the finals.

“We’re in the hunt now, you only have to win two games to win the premiership in this league, it’s anyone’s game.

“The girls will have their junior tournament this week and next week we’ll buckle down and get ready for Millicent.”

Disappointing weekend for Coasters men

Portland’s men’s basketballers will be relying on results to fall their way to cling on to a spot in finals for this season, after a disappointing weekend saw them lose to Colac on Saturday evening 68-63 at home, before being resoundingly beaten by Mount Gambier 97-62 on Sunday in Mount Gambier.

With the Coasters currently one spot out of finals but on equal wins with fourth-placed Millicent, they’ll need bottom of the ladder Surfcoast to produce an improbable upset next weekend, which would allow them to claim the last spot in finals thanks to their better percentage.

It’s a position Portland did not need to be in, as they came into Saturday’s game against seventh-placed Colac warm favourites, having already beaten them earlier in the season.

It was a very frustrating night for the group, as they struggled to simply put the ball in the hoop, despite some solid passages of play which produced open looks.

Hayden Annett played a lone hand offensively, scoring 28 points which helped keep the side in it, with normally consistent contributors Nathan Hardingham and Jackson Dunlop having a rough night scoring the ball.

Defensively, the Coasters were solid, limiting their opponent’s opportunities to score and playing good defence without fouling.

The latest of late runs made the game interesting towards the end, however more missed shots meant the Coasters ultimately fell short.

Coach Rebel Noter was disappointed with how the game played out, putting it down to his side missing their opportunities.

“We only had passages of good play, late in the game we played alright and during that third quarter we thought maybe we could turn it around a little bit,” Noter said.

“Offensively, we didn’t have much to go to, we were standing around flat-footed early in the game… once we got some movement we looked alright.

“Defensively we stepped up alright… it was just offensive boards and unlucky turnovers which cost us on that end.

“We just need to score more, if you told us coming into the game that we only give up 68 points, we’re taking that.”

Noter added that falling behind early ended up costing his side down the stretch.

“We needed to hit all our shots and get every stop towards the end and we weren’t able to do it,” he said.

“It’s a hard game to win when you’re playing catch-up.”

The following day, the Coasters travelled to take on Mount Gambier, in what turned into a rough way for the side to finish up the regular season.

On this occasion it was Hardingham who was the sole influence offensively, finishing up with 33 points to have more than half of his team’s total.

The Lakers dominated the middle portion of the contest, outscoring Portland 51-24 to claim full and unequivocal control over the match.

The Coasters will now wait with bated breath to see if Surfcoast can do the improbable and down Millicent in the final game of the CBL season next weekend.