Warrnambool Mermaids coach Louise Brown was delighted to see her side record a win from its opening two games but expects it will take time to fully adjust to the rigours of the Big V women's championship division.
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The Mermaids, who were promoted to the top level after consecutive division one titles, played back-to-back road games, falling to Bulleen 76-61 on Saturday, April 6, 2024, before defeating Sunbury 86-84 on Sunday.
"(We're) really happy to split the weekend which was really good," Brown said.
"I didn't really have any expectations because we weren't really sure what our opposition were going to be like."
The Mermaids trailed by 12 points at the first break against reigning champions Bulleen but found their feet quickly and were only outscored 53-50 across the next three quarters.
The following day the side was behind 43-42 at half-time against Sunbury before outgunning their opposition 44-41 in the second half.
"Bulleen obviously won the championship division last year so to come within 15 points of them was a really good sign," Brown said.
"We took a lot away from that game, lots that we can work on. We missed 11 foul shots and had 19 turnovers so if we can just fix a little bit of that up then we're competitive so I was rapt with that.
"Against Sunbury it was up and down, we just pinched the win at the end which was fantastic for the girls' confidence. I'm just really happy to get our first win on the board."
Brown said the championship division was a lot quicker and more physical than division one.
"They're probably two really big things that we need to adjust to and that's just going to take us a little bit of time, we're not used to playing at that pace so playing at that pace for us created a lot of turnovers," she said.
"I think we had 19 in the first game and yesterday I reckon we had 27, so to win the game and still have 27 turnovers was great really. I think that's just from the pace and the physicality.
"That might take us the first part of the season just to get used to playing at that intensity."
Dakota Crichton was dominant with 26 points and five rebounds for the Mermaids against Bulleen while Polish import Julia Nielacna was also impressive in her first game for the club, scoring 15 points and 12 rebounds.
The pair backed it up against Sunbury with Crichton contributing 15 points, 12 rebounds and Nielacna 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Brown praised the duo's efforts.
"Dakota was great," she said.
"She played 80 minutes out of 80 minutes, 40 minutes both games so she had a really big weekend, she was really good for us on both ends of the floor.
"Both games we probably gave her the toughest defensive assignment and we expected her to score for us and do well on the offensive end as well.
"She did really well, this style of basketball really suits her, she's quick, she's athletic, she's long. She's young and she's got a really bright future.
"We were rapt with Julia and I think she'll settle into the competition beautifully. Give her a few more weeks, she's only trained with us for two weeks so she's had to learn all of our offenses and at times that looked a bit messy over the weekend but that's OK, that's something we can work on and she's really new to that system as well.
"She was a really big presence for us inside and she had a great weekend as well."
Meanwhile, Warrnambool Seahawks fell to Bulleen and Altona on the road in their round three men's division one clashes on Saturday, April 6 and Sunday, April 7.
The Seahawks lost the Bulleen clash 102-93 before going down to Altona 96-71.
American import Kester Ofoegbu shone in both matches with 28 points, 16 rebounds in the first and 19 points, five rebounds in the second.
The Mermaids and Seahawks will play their first home games of the season on Saturday, April 13 with a double-header at the Arc.
The Mermaids face Wyndham while the Seahawks play Coburg.
Matt Hughes
Matt is a sports journalist at The Standard.
Matt is a sports journalist at The Standard.
