The Hornets are reigning conference champions after winning last season’s grand final, but will be comfortable underdogs at the weekend against ladder-leader Mount Gambier on the road.

Horsham was drawn to play the Lakers in the semi-final due to a contentious ranking system.

The team had four wins, four losses and 16 points for the season, finishing fourth on the final ladder.

It had the same record as the Portland Coasters, who finished one spot higher than the Hornets despite a percentage of 95.79 compared with Horsham’s 120.58.

Portland will play Warrnambool, an easier opponent, in the other semi-final because it finished third.

Country Basketball League event co-ordinator Sam Cartwright said that when teams were tied on points it was head-to-head results rather than percentage that determined which team finished higher on the ladder.

‘‘Portland beat Horsham in both of their head-to-head games during the season, which is why it finished higher,’’ he said.

‘‘If one team smashes a side by 100 and another team smashes them by 50, it results in their percentage being pretty different, whereas the head-to-head results give a truer reflection of which is the higher placed team.’’

Horsham coach Sharon Fedke said the system unfairly penalised her side.

The Hornets’ losses to Portland were both narrow and both came when the team was missing key players.

They achieved better results than Portland did against the rest of the competition, including two wins against Warrnambool and two close losses to Mount Gambier.

Portland did not beat Warrnambool and lost to Mount Gambier by an average of more than 15 points.

Fedke said the results proved her side had been more consistent during the year.

She said she was not aware the ladder was based on head-to-head results until she contacted the league to ask why Horsham finished fourth instead of third.

‘‘I’ve been playing basketball for 40 years and have played in some pretty high competitions, and I have never seen ladder positions based on head-to-head results before,’’ she said.

‘‘Ladder position should be based on your results across the whole season, not just a two-game snapshot.’’

The Hornets’ men finished atop the ladder but were equal on points with Colac.

The team split its two games against Colac but finished on top because of a superior aggregate score.

Cartwright said the head-to-head ranking system was used at national competitions and international FIBA competitions.

‘‘The head-to-head metric is used in pretty much every basketball competition around,’’ he said.

‘‘The measure is meant so you take every game against your competitors as seriously as possible.’’

The NBL ladder appears to be based on percentage rather than head-to-head results.

Last season the Cairns Taipans finished ahead of the Sydney Kings based on percentage despite the fact Sydney won three of their four head-to-head games.

Fedke said there was nothing her team could do about its ladder position and it would instead focus on beating Mount Gambier.

She said the team was well-prepared and capable of an upset against the Lakers.