Molly McKinnon leads Mermaids to Biv V championships before helping Koroit win a Hampden league semi-final

McKinnon was on deck at the Arc to help Warrnambool Mermaids, a team she captains, scale the Big V division one mountain by closing out a grand final series against Sherbrooke in straight sets.

It then freed up the 21-year-old to head to Cobden on Sunday, where she played a full game in goal defence for Koroit in its semi-final victory against North Warrnambool Eagles.

Speaking to The Standard after the Mermaids' triumph on Saturday night, McKinnon said her original plan if the Big V series went to a game three on Sunday was to split her time between both teams.

"I would have played the full basketball game but see how much I could get in with netball," she said. "But I don't have to worry about that and can go into (Sunday) thinking about netball."

McKinnon said Koroit had been fantastic to work with all year, allowing her and fellow teammates, such as Mia Mills, to juggle their duties with the Mermaids.

"(They've) been really supportive and always have for us basketballers," she said. "A lot of our young (Mermaids) teammates have done the same thing, I don't know how we manage it, we just do it. Just go from one to the other, or play half a game and then go to Melbourne.

"I don't know what else I would do, I love it."

McKinnon, who was part of the Mermaids' 2017 division two and 2018 division one flags, said it felt incredible to reach the pinnacle once again.

"Amazing, everyone we have who trains with us, not only the girls who played in the grand final... it's been amazing to get through a full season and we're rewarded with this in the end is pretty cool," she said.

McKinnon, who successfully returned from an ACL injury suffered in game three of the Mermaids' 2018 winning series, said it felt surreal when the final buzzer sounded on Saturday.

"I think we gave everyone a heart attack," she said of the five-point win. "It's really hard to describe that (post-game) experience but just so exciting. To be such a young team, with some experienced players, it's amazing for them to have that experience at such a young age like I did in 2017."

The nursing student credited a game-high 21-point lead in the third quarter to team defence, before the likes of Katie O'Keefe, Louise Brown, Amy Wormald and Kate Sewell helped the side hold on in the final minutes.

"It helped steady our offence and they got stops in defence," McKinnon said of the experienced group. "Katie was phenomenal and it showed in her getting MVP for the grand final series."

McKinnon now turns her attention to Koroit's preliminary final against Cobden on Saturday.

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