Tara Murray
A Sunbury Jets late fightback in the Big V women’s championship season has come to an end in the first week of finals.
Having been behind the eight ball all season, two final round wins put the Jets in fourth spot at the end of the regular season.
It meant they would host the elimination final against Pakenham Warriors.
For three quarters on Saturday night, the Jets were in the contest leading by six points at three quarter time.
The Warriors won the final quarter, 27-15, to claim a 90-84 win to progress through to the next round of finals.
Jets coach Monique Caparello said there were some mixed feelings after the result.
“I’m absolutely gutted about the result,” she said. “We’ve surpassed a lot of expectations that have been set for us.
“I’m proud of them from where they’ve come from half way through the season when we got our whole team.
“With self reflection, I’m proud but disappointed with last [Saturday] night.”
Caparello said they really struggled to get their outside shooting game going against the Warriors and it proved costly.
They shot nine from 28 from beyond the arc.
“They sat in a zone all night and that can be hard,” she said. “Our three ball wasn’t dropping and we had an off night.
“We could not shoot them out of the zone and our inside game wasn’t enough to get us over the line.”
Chloe Hildebrand top scored with 19 points for the Jets as five players scored double figures.
Caparello said the group had come so far this season. She was appointed to the role just before the season started.
“I was on the run putting in offensive sets and defence principles a week and a half out from a practice match,” she said.
“It was my first season as head coach as well. An off season to prepare and put in basic principles will set us up for the future.”
Caparello said it was pleasing to see so much local talent within the squad and as a coach that was something she focused on.
She said they were hoping to possibly add a few more players in while their youth league team made finals.
“Hopefully they’ve be a couple of others that want to challenge for a spot and the group we’ve had has proved their worth,” she said.
“We’ll probably grab a couple from youth league as well. Hopefully it’ll set us up for a good future.”
Meanwhile, the Jets youth league division 2 side was knocked out in the semi finals.
