IT’s a simple equation for the south-west flavoured Victoria Country under 18 girls at the national championships today.
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If they win, they will progress to the medal round.
If they lose, they won’t.
Warrnambool’s Tony Gall is coach of the side, which has the arduous task of snapping Queensland South’s undefeated streak in its last minor round match this morning.
“They know what the scenario is,” Gall said of his players.
“They’re all pretty excited and obviously pretty pumped to win.”
The team planned to do its homework on Queensland South last night by spending several hours watching video-tapes of the Queenslander’s games.
Before yesterday’s bye, Vic Country had only dropped one game at the national titles in Tasmania, which was a 12-point opening round loss to New South Wales Metro last Saturday.
After cruising to a 100-22 win over Northern Territory on Sunday, it edged out South Australia Country 66-64 on Monday.
It was followed by a pair of comfortable victories against Western Australia Country (77-60) and Tasmania (66-39).
SA Country and NSW Metro are the other teams fighting for a top-two spot to advance to the medal round.
Gall highlighted the efforts of the south-west basketballers in his side, who include Maddy White (Warrnambool), Ebony Rolph (Portland), Nicola Handreck (Hamilton) and Zoe Donne (Colac).
White has averaged 14.2 points and five rebounds per game, while Rolph has averaged eight points and six rebounds per game.
“Maddy’s probably been our best player,” he said.
“She’s been outstanding in every game.
“Ebony has been really good as well but she has a slight knee injury so we’re managing her minutes.”
Handreck — who has averaged 8.7 points and 3.5 rebounds per game — missed the last match due to a minor leg injury, with Gall hoping she will recover for today’s clash.
Donne has been averaging four points and 3.8 rebounds per game.
kbutler@standard.fairfax.com.au
