Tara Murray
Nothing went right for the Craigieburn Eagles in the back end of the Big V division 1 women’s season, which came to an end on Saturday night.
Aiming to return to finals this season, the Eagles season looked bright with about five weeks remaining.
But injuries and players away, took a toll and the Eagles limped into finals in fourth spot.
On Saturday night the Eagles faced Western Port in an elimination final, with their season on the line.
Despite doing a lot of things right, it was heartbreak for the Eagles that lost 60-51.
Eagles coach Andrew Seidel was pretty flat following the result.
“We were unlucky,” he said. “We threw everything at them bar the kitchen sink,” he said.
“They were able to hit more crucial shots than we were.
“Had you said to me six weeks ago we would make play offs and keep them to 60 points, I would have said we would win the game.
“All season we have stored more than 51 points, the shots just didn’t drop.”
The Eagles led by three points after the first break, before the Steelers led by two points at the half.
The Steelers managed to open up a nine point lead heading into the final quarter, which would be a match winning one.
The Eagles gave it everything in the last quarter, but shot at just 33 per cent from the field and nine per cent from beyond the three point line.
Seidel said there was some real mixed emotions with the result, knowing that they played some really good basketball and were able to get the shots they were after, without them falling
“It just didn’t roll our way,” he said. “Nothing went our way, which was the most frustrating thing.
“We can’t say much more. Had we won the game and got to play Mildura this week we would have been confident even if it was in Mildura.”
Demi Albon top scored with 18 points for the Eagles, while Courtney Strait had 12 points.
Despite not getting the ending they were after, Seidel said they would look back on this season as a positive one after a tough 2022 for the team.
“We wanted to make the play offs,” he said. “Five weeks ago we put ourselves into play off contention.
“Hopefully we can build on that. Good teams and good clubs bounce back and aim to do something the next season.”
Meanwhile, Hume City Broncos will have a home final in the first week of the men’s championship division.
The Broncos beat Western Port on Sunday, 111-105 to seal second spot.
The Broncos will face the Sunbury Jets, with both sides to progress through to the second week of finals.
The Broncos women’s side will need to win their final two matches this week and hope results go their way to seal a finals berth in the championship division.
