Western Warriors slight finals hopes are all but over in the Victorian Netball League championship with two losses last week.
It was a fast-finishing Warriors that left it too late to get the points in their match against Boroondara Express on Wednesday.
Coach Kim Bailey was left to lament another sluggish start.
For a second straight week, the Warriors come late from a big deficit but were unable to chase it back. Against the Express, the Warriors lost 66-63.
“Close yet again, we just can’t give teams that big of a start,” she said.
“So yeah, disappointing. You know, the good thing is we know we can come back, (we) just can’t get that far down. We were flat to start, it looked like we were flat.
“It took us a while to work into the game, but we tried a few different combinations and just giving them time to come off the court like Simona (Di Philippo), for example, came off the court, had a look at what’s going on, then goes back on and she had a great second-half.
“Same with Ruby (Shannon), was a little bit behind the play, came back on and probably had the best defensive game for the season.”
The Warriors were down by 12 goals at one stage, but outscored Boroondara 19 to 12 in the final term.
The Warriors will be without goal defence Natalie Tommasini for a few weeks.
“It’ll be a little bit difficult, but we’ll live,” Bailey said.
“With Elly (Randall) stepping up tonight, we’ve got Georgia Berry, and we might bring Eliza Gollant up.”
The Warriors under-23s defeated Boroondara by 10 goals, 56-46 which Bailey said “would give them the world of confidence”.
“They played tonight like we thought they could play the whole season so (it was) really pleasing. We’re coming to the back end of the season and they can finish off positively hopefully. The smiles on their faces when they get a win was worth a million bucks.”
The Warriors were back in action on Sunday in the first match of round 18.
They headed up to Bendigo to face the Bendigo Strikers.
The Strikers lead by four at quarter time and the margin was back to two at the main break.
It was still anyone’s game heading into the final quarter with the Strikers leading by three goals.
There was no fast finish for the Warriors this time, with the Strikers winning 54-44.
The Warriors were without Julia Woolley in the match.
Kim Borger shot 32 goals in the loss.
The Warriors sit second bottom with five wins.
In the under-23s, the Warriors lost to the Strikers, 48-46.
Both teams face Melbourne University Lightning on Sunday in round 19.
