IT will be just another game of basketball tomorrow night at the Icehouse for the Pioneers women, if coach Matt Sutton has anything to say about it.
The Basketball SA Premier League season is well into the final half and the Pioneers sit proudly in third place on the ladder.
It is a far cry from not existing prior to the 2019 season.
But for now, the Pioneers will host the Central District Lions in a game that looks easy enough on paper.
The Lions languish down on the bottom of the ladder, win-less and were dealt an 18-point defeat at the hand of Mount Gambier last round.
Youngster Emily Winter was the star of the game with 23 points, joined by American import Pachis Roberts on the same score.
Unusually, captain Amanda Frost did not reach double figures in the win, but the night before in the double-header road trip she did, finishing with 22 points and 11 rebounds to boot.
Roberts managed 16 and 11 in that game, while Winter contributed 16 points as well.
It all suggests the Pioneers are in the box seat to win again tomorrow night, but Sutton is taking nothing for granted.
“Our preparation has been pretty good for the game,” he said.
“They haven’t won a game yet, but they are pretty desperate.
“They played us pretty well last time, so we have to be really focused.
“We are not going in ahead of ourselves that is for sure.”
As a young player Winter is certainly an important part of the side and Sutton expects a lot from her.
That will be no different tomorrow night.
“We need Emily to play well on both ends of the floor,” he said.
“She will have a tough task on defence and like normal we just expect her to have a good game and give herself some good opportunities to get to the hoop.”
The same is obvious for Frost and Roberts, but also for several other players.
“Mel (Russell), Maddy (Wormald) and Olivia (Wormald) play really important roles for us,” Sutton said.
“Maddy is important with her shooting and Mel and Olivia with their defence.
“Mel and Olivia get some big defensive roles to play against players who are much bigger in size, but they just battle really well and do a lot of things that may go unnoticed.”
Sutton said he was impressed with Olivia Wormald, who came into the side as an unknown quantity, but has grown into her role well.
“I had no real knowledge of Olivia until she came down here,” he said.
“I think the workload we put on her, sometimes we forget she is only 19 years old.
“We put some unfair expectations on her, but what she has been able to produce has been good for us.”
When the Pioneers’ women’s program was first announced, no players were on the roster.
To reach the heights they have in their first season has been somewhat of a meteoric rise.
That is something not lost on the rookie coach, which has changed his focus on the season.
“At the start of the year we would have been pinching ourselves if we were in this position,” he said.
“But watching the growth of the team, we now have big expectations going forward.”
But despite those expectations, Sutton maintains there is no talk of playoffs among the group.
“People are bringing it up to me and the players, but we are not getting too far ahead of ourselves,” he said.
“It can be hard to keep a lid on at times, but we just keep it simple, keep it training to training and game to game.”
Tomorrow’s game tips off at 6.30pm.
