PORTLAND have booked their spot in a second consecutive Country Basketball League South West grand final after a hard-fought victory over a young and tenacious Warrnambool Mermaids side on Saturday evening.

The Coasters led for the game’s entirety, but the semi-final win didn’t come easy for the team as the Mermaids remained within arms-reach for much of the second half, Portland holding onto the lead to finish with an eight-point win, 67-59.

The team will now be preparing for a grand final clash against Millicent Magic, who defeated their semi-final opponents Mount Gambier by just two points on Saturday night and will now make the trip to Portland for the big game on Saturday.

Portland coach Rebel Noter said his team were deserving grand finalists and that he and the group were looking forward to the opportunity to reclaim their CBL crown for another season.

“It’s a great feeling to be playing in a grand final next week,” he said.

“It’s something that is well deserved by the girls because they’ve all put in a lot of work throughout the season.

“It was something a bit different this year with the shortened season, but I think this has shown that they’ve all prepared themselves well, both on the court and at training, to get where they are.”

The Coasters’ win came off the back of a big-scoring first half, in which they put up 40 points to lead the Mermaids by a margin of 13 at the main break before Warrnambool clawed their way back into the contest.

But the Coasters lead was cut to as low as five points to kick off the fourth quarter, before the experience of captain Heidi Jones and centre Alana Strom shone late in the game to finish off the win.

Five of Jones’ six points were scored in the final quarter, including a clutch long-range three to push the lead out to 11 points with just under four minutes remaining.

Strom worked tirelessly for every minute she was on the court, scoring 10 points in the first half and was unrelenting inside the key and in her work up and down the court to finish with 12 points for the game.

Millie Jennings and Summer Millard combined well in the back-court, sharing top-scoring honours for the Coasters with 13 points apiece while both also showing off their long-range ability as they made three shots from outside the perimeter.

Tyleah Barr got the Coasters off to a hot start with four first-quarter points, Lexie Petch provided immediate impact coming off the bench, bringing immense energy and swarming defence and scoring seven points for the game.

After the Mermaids outscored the Coasters in the third term 22 points to 16, the Coasters gritted their teeth and ground out a winning performance in the final quarter.

Warrnambool’s fightback wasn’t something unexpected from Noter and the Coasters, who said the players were able to work through the defensive focus the Mermaids brought to the game late.

“It was good that Warrnambool really pushed the girls, and that they were made to work that little bit harder,” he said.

“Warrnambool just kept coming at us all game, and our bench just needed to work through some of that perceived pressure that they were putting on us.

“It wasn’t as though Warrnambool were playing extremely tight on-ball, they were making us make some silly passes and we were taking shots that we usually wouldn’t want to be taking.

“Our old heads were working really well to calm every down, and communicating that we can’t worry about mistakes, instead we should be thinking about what’s next because that’s the mentality you have to have out there.”

Noter said the intense finals game was a good experience for some of the younger players, before they stepped into the grand final atmosphere in front of a home crowd.

“A lot of our players are still quite young, and some of them are only just being introduced to finals basketball,” he said.

“Players like Grace Cleaver and Millie Ferguson missed out last year, but when they get their moments out on the court they have to make the most of it.”

Young players like Tiarna Keegan, who scored five points, and Tigrha Cleary, who scored two, provided important minutes off the bench for the Coasters, with Keegan battling well as a tall while Strom and Rhi Davis took a breather.

With complete faith in the depth of his squad, Noter said that the team would be going into Saturday’s grand final like they were preparing for just another game.

“Nothing changes for us in this next week, we’ll be back to training on Tuesday and Thursday,” he said.

“We’re back on our home court once again for the second week in a row now that the domestic basketball is all said and done.

“We’ll be looking at stuff like footwork and both team and individual defence, working hard and really looking ahead to the game on Saturday.”