EXPECTATIONS will be high when Woorinen and the Mallee Eagles take the court for their knockout first semi-final on Sunday.
The Tigers having been one of the form teams all season and the Eagles are stacked with talent across the court.
Knocking out Balranald with a seven-goal win, the Eagles couldn’t have been more impressive last weekend.
However, Woorinen’s disastrous third quarter in the qualifying final against Swan Hill, when they were outscored 16-4, proved costly.
Tigers coach Tayla Bennett was aware another costly lapse in concentration will most likely end their season prematurely.
“We take the positives from last week and also look at the negatives, and in many ways it comes back to a lot of our decision-making in that period of the game really,” Bennett said.
“Being consistent, executing our game plan and adjusting if we need to, they are the big learning experiences from the weekend.
“Last time we played (Mallee Eagles, a 67-50 win round 10) we got off to a really good start and then we managed to maintain that lead.
“We started well last week too, but we know that this week we know we must produce a four-quarter effort in order to win.”
Bennett starred in attack for the Tigers in round 10 as her side got out to an 11-goal lead at quarter-time.
Mallee Eagles coach Meg Allen believed her side had more to show than that performance.
“(Woorinen) have been a great team all season, but they definitely found form over the last few home-and-away rounds,” Allen said.
“They beat us pretty easily when we last played them earlier in the season and having only played them once this year, we’re actually really keen to make amends for that game.
“It was a game that we kind of wanted to put behind us, but it’s exciting to know that we will come in as underdogs on Sunday and knowing that we have a lot more to show than we did last time.”
With both teams possessing dominant attacking thirds, the match is likely to be decided in the midcourt, according to Bennett.
There, the Eagles’ Sonya Lorenzoni, Elly Bookham and Allen will go up against Carlee Hazlett, Jaimee Beasy and Ava Crow.
“They have a very strong midcourt and so do we, but we know that their midcourt is a big strength of theirs,” Bennett said.
“If Kellie (Walker) and Megan (Thorneycroft) are on early, that can make it hard for us to get a rebound or create a turnover, so we really need to try and prevent it getting in there as often as we can.
“It will be a high-pressure game one way or another, but our midcourt of Carlee (Hazlett), Ava (Crow) and Jaimee (Beasy) will need to be at their best, especially with with that transition from defence into attack and making the right choices.”
With seasons on the line, expect nothing to be left on the court, with the Tigers getting over the line in a close one.
Tip – Woorinen by five goals.
