Tara Murray
A focused Darley did what it needed to as it won through to the Ballarat Netball League preliminary final.
After starting the final series with a loss to North Ballarat, the Devils needed to beat Lake Wendouree in Sunday’s semi final to keep their season alive.
It was a nervous start for the Devils, but once they settled they were able to open up seven goal margin at quarter time.
After that point, both teams would have periods of dominance but the margin stayed steady throughout the rest of the game.
The Devils came away with the 40-34 win.
Devils coach Di McCormack said she was extremely nervous coming into the game.
“The first three minutes we were really poor and seemed nervous,” she said. “We were making bad passing errors.
“We were able to settle and we got it out to seven goals at the end of the first quarter and we were safe for the rest of the day.
“The second quarter they shot about the same amount we did and were able to come a bit. We stuck to the game plan.”
McCormack said the focus for them was to stop the quick ball movement of the Lakers like to create.
She said for the most part they were able to stick to that and able to claw back when they let slip for patches.
McCormack said Matilda Elliot was the clear best on court. She said Elliot seems to step up when there are the big moments.
“There was outstanding work by her under the ring [in defence],” she said. “Her ability to read the ball and get her feet out to it.
“She was the game changer for us and they ended up taking their goal shooter off.”
McCormack was also full of praise for Monique Nagle at the other end of the court.
She said she was the pick of their shooters with her movement and shooting accuracy, as she took her game up a notch.
The Devils now face Redan in the preliminary final. Redan lost the other semi final to North Ballarat, which awaits the winner of this week in the decider.
McCormack said they need to solidify what they’ve been doing in the preliminary to get another shot at North Ballarat.
A win on Saturday would see the Devils with four teams in the grand final. Their under-19s, who are through to a second straight grand final, are undefeated this season.
Their B-grade and C-grade sides also got wins on Saturday to earn a grand final spot and the week off.
