As in the semi-final, the Mermaids will need to win both of their matches at the Arc next weekend after succumbing to Altona 70-62 on the road yesterday.

Captain Holly Greene said her side was naturally disheartened returning home after the loss — just its second of the season.

“We’re pretty disappointed but we were in this situation two weeks ago,” she said.

“Hopefully we can rise to the occasion again and beat them on Saturday and Sunday.”

The Lady Gators controlled the opening half at Altona Sports Centre yesterday but the defiant Mermaids reduced the margin from eight points at half-time to three points at the last break.

With about five minutes on the clock in the final period, scores were 55 apiece.

After teams returned from a time-out, an Altona player banked a three, with the host then regaining possession of the ball shortly after.

It made good use of it, nailing a drive to the basket while being fouled and subsequently hitting the free throw to stretch the margin out to six points.

“We didn’t score and then they came down and got another lay-up,” Greene said.

“Louise (McLean) was able to get a shot off after that.

“But every time we scored, they were able to score.”

The skipper said the buffer was never less than six points in the dying minutes of the match.

She attributed the loss to a powerful first half from the home side.

“They came out and hit a few threes,” she said.

“Everything was going their way and not much was going our way.

“The third quarter was when we were able to pick up.”

Greene believed Louise McLean was the standout Mermaid in the opening half as she constantly found scoring avenues while centre Alana Jones was influential in the third term.

“She was getting plenty of boards and putting shots back up and getting fouled,” she said.

Warrnambool will train as usual this week, taking to the Arc on Thursday night.

“We’ll be focusing on defence in particular because I think that let us down,” Greene said.

Game two on Saturday is at 7pm while game three, if required, is 2pm Sunday.