Melton showed ladder-leading Sunbury and the rest of the Ballarat Netball League it will take some beating this finals series, going down by just four goals in Saturday’s semi-final clash.
The 55-51 extra time loss means Melton will front up for a preliminary final against East Point this week.
Bloods’ coach Melissa McCauley was taking plenty of positives from the performance.
“I think the match showed the versatility that we have,” she said.
“There were always going to be pockets of play where you expect someone to be there but they aren’t. I wouldn’t say that we dropped our heads or anything. We kept going, which was great to see.”
Having finished the home-and-away season two spots behind Sunbury on the ladder, Melton came out fighting on Saturday.
The Bloods took a two-goal lead into half-time and worked hard to extend that to five goals by the final break.
With an upset win on the cards, the Lions hit back late in the match, making the most of their chances around goal to force the contest into overtime.
Sunbury was able to carry forward the momentum and secure the four-goal win.
Melton’s Libby Birch again showed a liking for the big stage.
Birch was named in Melton’s best players, along with playing coach McCauley and wing defence Grace Rogers.
“Libby is a very strong young player,” McCauley said. “She’s so dynamic in that
wing attack position and she played a bit of centre. She has such strength when passing the ball through the middle of the court and she was great for us.”
Sunbury is straight into the grand final and will enjoy a week off.
