Warrnambool Mermaids had four 14-year-olds in its starting five on Saturday night at Warrandyte Sports Complex, according to coach Lee Primmer.
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With regular starters Amy Wormald, Grace Rodgers and Molly McKinnon unavailable, the young Mermaids stood up from the first tip-off.
Primmer was thoroughly impressed with his side's 65-49 loss to Warrandyte.
"I couldn't be more proud of the way they played," he said.
The coach said two players made big steps forward on the weekend.
Ava Bishop, 17, top scored for the Mermaids, hitting five three-pointers from seven attempts.
Bishop was the team's second oldest player behind veteran, Louise Brown.
Meanwhile, teenager Meg Carlin had eight points and battled hard against taller and stronger opponents.
Primmer felt the performance was indicative of how much the Mermaids had improved since they lost 77-58 to Warrandyte in round five.
He pointed out that night they were only missing Amy Wormald.
"We definitely have improved at being able to take pressure at the division one Big V standard," he said.
"Offensively we're starting to understand the physicality of playing at that level."
Youngster Olivia Wolter played her first Big V game for the Mermaids after being a consistent trainer all season.
Primmer said the Mermaids may regain Juina Lual, who has missed recent games with a broken finger, for the round 15 clash with Craigieburn.
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Meanwhile, Warrnambool Seahawks fell 95-80 to third-ranked Corio Bay at Belmont in the Big V men's division one competition on Saturday night.
Riley Nicolson top-scored with 21 points with Ollie Bidmade and Malayke Cunningham chipping in with 18 and 14 points.
Coach Alex Gynes was largely pleased with what was the first game back for the Seahawks after the coronavirus-pandemic enforced break this past month.
"At the end of the day, it was great to be out on the floor and I can't fault the effort," he said.
"As a whole pretty happy with the effort and intensity the boys brought.
"On the offensive end, when we moved the ball, we got good looks and we were able to knock down a number of solid shots."
The Seahawks, which are ninth on the table with five wins and six defeats, face Coburg at Coburg in round 15 on Sunday.
The coach said there were two things the side wanted to work on.
One of is looking after ball as the Seahawks had many turnovers. The other is defensive containment.
He said it was great the Seahawks scored 80 points but they probably let themselves down on defence, giving up 95 points.
Gynes said he was expecting to have Benson Steere back for round 15 after he was unavailable for Saturday's game.
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