PORTLAND’S women’s basketballers are in a unique position in the Country Basketball League’s 2023-24 season, as despite the league taking a two-week hiatus for the Christmas and New Year break, they have just one more regular season game to look forward to.

Their coach Rebel Noter said he believes they’re poised to make a solid run at the championship heading into the point end of the season.

“The girls have been building, and they’ve been consistent with their training and in games,” he said.

“We have some finals experience within the group, but we have to expect every team to throw their best shot at us.”

With the Coasters likely locked in for a finals berth with their record standing at 6-3, Noter said the challenge now will be for them to stay ready even as they play just one game in five weeks in the lead up to finals.

“It will be important for the girls to get themselves to training and really commit to getting themselves in the right shape for finals,” he said.

The advantage in the Coasters’ favour is their talent on the defensive end, which ought to bode well for finals, where often times the pressure of a do-or-die, match can lead to offensive struggles.

For the Coasters, their defensive line up featuring up to half a dozen different options has proved potent time and again this season at generating turnovers which produce easy points at the other end.

The Coasters will have one last opportunity to test themselves before finals, as they travel to Colac today to take on the Kookas, who currently sit on the bottom of the ladder with just one win to their name.

Should Portland get the job done, they will have guaranteed themselves a spot in finals.

The game gets underway at noon at Bluewater Leisure Centre.