One challenge overcome, now a new one awaits Sunbury Lions in the Ballarat Netball League.
The Lions beat Redan in an elimination final on Sunday, to set up a semi-final clash with East Point on Saturday.
The Lions took an early lead then resisted numerous Redan attempts to bridge the gap to win 45-38.
Lions coach Adam Boldiston said a strong start was the key.
“We made a good start, which we had emphasised during the week, to put on early scoreboard pressure,” he said.
“We converted from the centre passes and were four goals up at quarter-time.”
The quick start forced Redan to change things up to counter Sunbury’s star shooter, Chloe Curran.
“The first quarter set things up and made Redan make changes and bring on Erin Riley to match up on Chloe and give them a bit more height.
“They had an injury time-out early in the second quarter and they changed up their centre. We still won the quarter by four goals and were up by eight at half-time.”
Boldiston said he emphasised to his players they must not ease up in the second half.
“They threw everything at us and pegged us back to four goals, but maintained composure, got some turnovers and got the hard-fought win,” he said.
Boldiston said Curran was best on court, shooting 37 goals.
“She is such a good player and has good strength,” he said.
“We were also fantastic defensively, with Elly Randall and Rebecca Anstey doing a great job to restrict them to 38 goals.”
East Point enters the game on the back of a two-goal loss to North Ballarat City
“We haven’t played them since really early in the season and we only played them once,” Boldiston said. “We were missing players out of the starting seven and apart from one quarter it was a close match.
“We’ll be under the pump again but I believe if we play our best we can win.”
Boldiston said they hoped to have Kate Fletcher back to add variety to the line-up.
North Ballarat City will play Lake Wendouree in the other semi-final.
Tara Murray
