Tara Murray
Craigieburn Eagles will look to regroup and push again in the Big V women’s division 1 finals this week.
The Eagles finished the regular season in fourth spot, but had a tough run to the end of the regular season, including losing to the two bottom teams.
Eagles coach Andrew Seidel said luck hadn’t been on their side late in the season.
“We have copped a couple of bad injuries the last few weeks,” he said. “We should have got a double chance.
“We haven’t finished as high as we would have liked with these challenges.”
Alana Ellis is currently overseas, while captain Ellen Cox hurt her knee. Ash ?? has also missed several games late in the season.
On Saturday night, the Eagles lost to the Chelsea Gulls, 71-63.
The Eagles led early before the Gulls led by four points at half time. The margin was five points at the final break.
Seidel said the players ran out of legs, having had to play some big minutes in recent weeks with the shortage of players.
Courtney Strait top scored with 17 points as she played all four minutes, with Myra Wood scoring 16 points as she also spent the whole game on court.
Seidel said he believed that Strait would go close to claiming the most valuable player award following her season.
“It has been great as a coach to coach a player like her,” he said.
The Eagles face the Western Port Steelers in an elimination final this weekend.
Seidel said the fact they were hosting the final was a real positive.
“We have the head-to-head win against Western Port and we beat them last time round.
“We go in quietly confident and we will look at our depth and see whether we add a youthie on the bench to give us an extra rotation.
“We’ll see how we go.”
The Eagles’ men’s division 2 side had a bye in the final round. They finished the season second last.
