Tigers win shows building process pays off

GROVEDALE got the monkey off its back with a 55-44 win over fellow cellar dweller North Shore on Saturday.

The two sides went into the game winless but it was the Tigers that prevailed, leaving coach Mel Bragg optimistic that her side is on the right path.

“It was a game we hoped we’d win — both A and Bgrade hadn’t won a game — but we knew they were going to come out and be really determined as well because they’re in the same position and they’ve been the same A. Delaney 30, A. Luamanu 22, M. Bragg 3.

K. Aguila 29, S. Todd 10, C. Hastie 5. Best players not submitted. position for a lot longer than we have,” Bragg said.

“We knew they were going to be determined, and I thought they played really well today. I don’t think we necessarily played our best game but we were happy to get the four points.”

It’s been a tough couple of years for the Tigers, who won just four games last campaign and their first for the year on Saturday.

But it’s a young list, which gives Bragg hope that the best is yet to come.

“We’ve got a really, really young team — a couple of 14 and 15-year-olds — so we knew we weren’t going to be super competitive (this season),” she said.

“It would have been good to be a little bit closer but I think we are building; we had an excellent game against Leopold last week, we were only two down at halftime.

“I think the girls are getting better. And we’ve probably had some games, like today, where we’ve had players out. We had two 16-year-olds playing defence.

“Obviously it would have been good to get more wins on the board as the season has gone on but we’re also building and hopefully we’re going to develop over the next couple of years.”

Having now passed the halfway point of the season, Bragg said improving on results from earlier in the campaign would help provide a guide on the side’s development, such as this weekend’s game against St Joseph’s.

When the two sides met in Round 4, Grovedale lost 26-55, but Bragg is hoping to be more competitive this Saturday.

“It’s more about us making sure we try and improve on the things that let us down last time we played them and reducing the margin,” she said.

“If we get the win, that’s a bonus. Now that we’ve played most of the teams this season, it’s more when we come up against them the next time, how are we going to build on that.

“The average age on the court today was 20.

“Hopefully in the next couple of years we’re going to build. In the next two, three, four years, if we can keep the girls together, those 14, 15year-old girls are going to be 18, 19.” NEWT & CHIL 10 0 0 STH BARWON 9 ST ALBANS LEOPOLD COLAC 9 7 5 10 10 30 50 175.96 40 162.13 36 120.67 36 116.82 28 108.71 20