THE Horsham Lady Hornets are preparing for the biggest game of the season when they take on Corio Bay in the Country Basketball League grand final on Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The side hopes to become back-to-back premiers after winning last year.
This will be the third grand final the Hornets have been in in the past four seasons.
Coach Gareth Hiscock said the side expected to win.
“We wouldn’t be participating if we didn’t expect to win,” he said.
The Hornets will be up against the Corio Bay Stingrays, a side they have defeated once and lost to once.
The Stingrays finished the season in the fourth position on the table but managed to topple the first-placed Millicent Magic off of its perch, making the Magic players pack their bags early.
After a strong week in training and the Lady Hornets are looking ready for a fight.
The side were quick off the mark in training and were moving the ball swiftly around the court.
Hiscock said the side weren’t nervous but players were feeling anxious.
“We are getting a bit used to it by now,” he said.
The Hornets defeated the Stingrays back in round three 80 to 57 while the side lost in round 13, 81 to 70.
Hiscock said the side was light on numbers for the defeat.
“We did lead for most of the game but they ran over the top of us in the final quarter,” he said.
“Any premierships are hard to win in any sport and at any level so if we can go back-to-back that is a fantastic achievement.”
The Lady Hornets have never won back-to-back premierships before.
Hiscock said at this stage of the season he would be training a lot of man-on-man drills.
“We know the players pretty well from the opposition sides because we get to play against them fairly regularly,” he said.
“We know what their strengths are and we need to counteract what their strengths are just like what we did last week against Mount Gambier.
“That worked really well.”
Hiscock boasts a full roster to select from this week and will likely chose the same line-up from the semi-final.
That line-up consisted of Caitlin Story in centre, Ema Iredell as a small forward, Sophie Alexandra as a power forward and Ally Hiscock and Georgia Hiscock as guards.
A battle to watch out for will be between the Hiscock sisters and the Tatlock sisters, Teagan and Tahli.
Teagan is the leading scorer for the Stingrays with 226 points to her name while Tahli is close behind with 188.
“We will be looking to work those girls hard defensively like we did against Mount Gambier in the semi-final,” Hiscock said.
