FOR too long, honourable losses have been accepted by the Werribee Devils in the Victorian Basketball League Big V women’s division 2.
The reconstruction of the team with home-grown talent under coach Brant Lowry was always going to have its teething problems, with the short-term outlook taking a hit for the betterment of the longer term.
After two losing seasons, Lowry has grown tired of picking the positives out of the close losses and will begin to press his players for better results or suffer the consequences at training.
The Devils flat-out threw away their chance to beat one of the title favourites Western Port Steelers at the Somerville Recreation and Community Centre on Saturday.
Lowry addressed the team post game with endorsements for their rebounding, pressure without the ball and ability to get everyone involved in light of a handful of underdone players, but neglected to mention the 31 turnovers and the elementary missed shots.
Those negatives – the ones that have pulled them down to 0-3 – will be assessed thoroughly from now on and those assessments will be made by Lowry, his three assistants and the players themselves.
“When I spoke to the team after the game I could see the positives and that comes from two losing seasons,” Lowry said.
“We did well and we’re playing better in the last couple of weeks. But it’s not acceptable to lose games week in, week out. It really isn’t good enough.”
The Devils have four training sessions to prepare for their first post-Easter bout with Blackburn. There will be new team guidelines that will apply for that game and those that follow.
The goals that are not met will be dealt with at training the following week.
“We need to be a lot more disciplined both as players and as coaches,” Lowry said.
“We will set goals of what is acceptable with things such as shooting percentage and turnovers and if we don’t meet those goals there will be punishments at training.”
The Devils led the Steelers at half-time despite committing the bulk of their turnovers in the first half. Their shooting in the second quarter was a solid seven of 13.
It turned pear-shaped in the third period when they could not mask their shoddy ball handling with good shooting and the Steelers ran away with the game.
Morgan Owen had a productive outing for the Devils with 14 points, five rebounds and three assists. With 11 points apiece, Briana Pastore and Tarhnie Brown found their range.
The Devils will enter the break winless and on the bottom of the ladder.
Lowry is adamant that will not be for long with a more disciplined line-up to hit the court in a fortnight.
Women’s division 2: Western Port Steelers 65 d Werribee Devils 56.
