It was the perfect storm for the Western Warriors as they failed to match the Casey Demons in the Victorian Netball League on Wednesday night.
A win would continue to give the Warriors and outside chance of staying in finals contention, but they looked nowhere near it.
Defender Jasmine Fraser and Simona Di Filippo were both on the sidelines as they play in the SN reserves competition this week.
Tayla Honey was limited to two quarters due to illness, while their attacking end struggled to get going.
An ankle injury to Ruby Shannon in the third quarter was the icing on the cake as the Warriors lost, 74-56.
Warriors coach Kim Bailey said while they salvaged a little bit in the end, it was a hard night.
“We had so many illnesses and unavailability and that is no excuse,” she said. “It was a perfect storm of things happening.
“We fought it out, I didn’t want the lead to blow out over 20 and we kept it under there.
“We had good glimpses and did some silly basic errors that we need to clean up, we’ll get back to training and work on them.”
With the absences, the Warriors looked to try some different things.
Molly Kennedy, who has primarily played goal defence this season, played in the midcourt, while Poppy Douglass also spent some time at wing attack.
“With the unavailability of players and the illness and some injuries, we just had to do that,” she said.
“Molly was really great in centre. She plays there in GV [Goulburn Valley] with Kim Borger’s team. Kim has been saying to me, give her a run there.
“She did really well and is a good defensive centre. Just needs to get more speed on the ball.”
Borger shot 30 goals for the Warriors.
Bailey said Shannon was in a bit of pain after going down on her ankle and thinks she has done some damage.
Shannon, a Melbourne Vixens training partner, was meant to play in the SN Reserves finals on the weekend.
The Warriors remain in seventh spot, 10 points outside the top six.
Bailey said they look at Wednesday night’s game and think what might have been with a couple of other results in recent weeks.
“We’re still struggling to get that consistency of games and put two or three really good games together in a row.”
It was heartbreak for the Warriors 23 and under side against the Demons.
After leading at every break, including eight at the final break, the Warriors lost in the final seconds of the game.
A Millie Barrientos shot with four seconds to go, gave the Demons a 62-61 win.
Ella Closter shot 43 goals for the Warriors.
The Warriors face the Gippsland Stars next.
