By Tara Murray
The Western Warriors made it two in a two row but know they still have some work to do in the Victorian Netball League.
After getting their first win of the season the previous week, the Warriors came out on fire against the Gippsland Stars on Wednesday night.
The Warriors managed to build up to a 17 goal lead at the final break.
The Stars finished the better of the two sides, but the Warriors had a big enough lead to come away with a 51-41 win.
Warriors coach Kim Bailey said while they were happy with the result, she would have liked to have seen them finish off.
“It was a little bit disappointing in the last quarter when they had a 17-10 last quarter to them,” she said.
“They came back really well but I think we let ourselves down a little bit in the last quarter. In saying that, still missing probably two of the best players in the competition in Ruby [Shannon] and Tayla Honey, I was really proud of what the girls did.
“There’s still a lot of improvement, we made some basic errors. But nice to get two from two.”
The Warriors had planned to be without Honey, who was away for the week, but were dealt a blow with Shannon suffering a calf injury. She is set to miss a couple more weeks.
It meant the Warriors were able to give some of their other midcourters an opportunity to step up.
“We have six midcourters, we knew the depth was there,” Bailey said. “It was good to drop Sarah Croft into the centre.
“Hasn’t played there really any time. Took her off and put Simona Di Filippo into the centre really injected some speed.
“It was a great opportunity to inject Georgia Hellyer onto the court and she did really well at wing attack and wing defence.”
Kim Borger finished 24 goals for the Warriors, with Rebecca Hicks scoring 22 as they shared the load.
Bailey said Molly Kennedy was again outstanding in defence saying she had grown and grown as the season has gone on.
Elly Randall came on into defence as well and had a really strong performance alongside Kennedy.
“They just kept trying and trying,” Bailey said. “They did a great job.
“Credit to them. They are a little bit smaller, when you do what the coach tells you to do, work the ball, work the angles.”
The Warriors 23 and under side won its first game of the season, beating the Stars, 56-39.
Bailey said it was a great result and the group played really hard.
“We’ll take the win,” she said. “We were really happy with that.
“Ella Closter back in form. Dash Taylor had a great game and Grace Manserra, a couple of the young kids really stepped up.
“Hopefully gives them a bit of confidence.”
The Warriors now face Boroondara Express.
