Hume City Broncos’ aim to finish in the top two in the Big V women’s state championship division remains right on track.
The Broncos have already won enough games to secure a finals berth with six games left, and only a form slump will see the Broncos slip from the top of the table.
The Broncos have lost only one game this season and that was back in round three.
Broncos coach Katrina Hibbert said with the top six making the finals this year, finishing in the top two is even more important.
“We hope to finish in one of the top two spots and get the bye in round one of the finals and homecourt advantage in round two,”: she said.
“We’re looking to fine-tune a few things the next few weeks and give opportunity to some players to get a few more minutes.
“We have a few harder hit-outs closer to finals.”
Against Warrandyte on Saturday night, Colleen Planeta showed again why she’s the division’s two-time reigning most valuable player.
Planeta scored 39 points and had 12 rebounds as the Broncos beat the Venom 79-52.
“We always knew [Warrandyte] would have a lot of energy and would have momentum coming into the game after a win the night before,” Hibbert said.
“We knew they would tire and we took time to adjust to play our game and get transition going.
“Her [Colleen] highest [score] is 43 and we tried to get her there in the end. I think we forced it too much and she was shooting from anywhere.”
Despite less of a reliance on Planeta this season, she’s still averaging 22.1 points and 10.3 rebounds a game and is leading the competition in blocks.
“Colleen will miss a few shots and get down on herself and on the bench we’ll be thinking she needs to hit those shots,” Hibbert said.
“We then look at the score-sheet and she has 15-20 points.
“I tell her to keep shooting the ball even when she’s missed a few. She normally shoots at 50 to 60 per cent, but doesn’t overshoot. She’s very team orientated.
“What separates her and a lot of the other imports, is the high percentage she shoots at.”
Hibbert said Mua Laloifi was among the players to step up this season to help Planeta.
She had her best game for the season last week with 33 points and also chipped in with 25 for the Broncos’ youth league side on the same weekend.
“With Sammy [Gallaher] missing with New Zealand commitments last year we needed someone to step into a starting role,” Hibbert said.
“We put Mua into that role and she was doing too well to move her back to the bench.
“She has continued with that form this year.”
Hibbert said Nicole Zammit would return from overseas for the final round of the season, while she was unsure when Gallaher would be back on court.
Gallaher missed several matches with concussion and copped another knock last week.
“Sammy’s still have concerns and we’re being precautionary and getting a specialist to have a look at her to make sure she’s looking after herself,” Hibbert said.
“She’s had eight concussions in two or three years. It’ll be at least another two or three weeks before she plays again.”
Meanwhile the Broncos men’s form slump continued with a 99-66 loss to Corio Bay.
