Warrnambool Mermaids coach Louise Brown knows her side used its get-out-of-jail-free card in its 54-50 win over Hawthorn Magic on Saturday night.

The Mermaids’ scoring inaccuracy was becoming an issue for the Big V division one outfit.

“Our shooting percentage has been the story of the last three games,” she said.

“We shot under 28 per cent from the field (against the Magic). We were 21 of 75 – I don’t even know how we won.”

The Mermaids’ second quarter when they managed just two points told the tale.

“We were 0-19 at one stage. We just couldn’t get a shot to drop in the second quarter,” Brown said.

“We can’t afford to have those patches for that period of time.”

The second-year mentor is confident the Mermaids, who have a 4-2 win-loss record despite their offensive issues, can rectify their woes.

“I’d say we got a lot of really good looks out of our offence which is a promising sign,” Brown said.

“We just couldn’t hit them. Then half our shots were a bit of junk out of frustration when we were struggling to score. I said to the girls last night ‘if we can win playing as bad as we are at the moment, imagine what will happen when we start to find our way’.”

Alana Strom was the Mermaids’ best, securing a double-double.

Brown praised the Portland-based recruit for her efforts which included a game-high 19 points and 19 boards.

“She dominated the rebound count and it was really nice to see Katie O’Keefe find a little bit of form too,” she said. “She got good minutes and late in the game she was really good for us.”

The Mermaids have a double-header next weekend with Camberwell at home on Saturday before Warrandyte away on Sunday.