By Trevor Jackson
A BIG weekend awaits the Mount Gambier Pioneers women, with a tough double-header road trip to Tasmania for Round 13 of the NBL1 South competition.
The Pioneers face the Hobart Chargers Friday night, then back up against the Launceston Tornadoes on Saturday.
The Chargers sit down in 15th position on the ladder, with the Tornadoes just ahead in 14th.
Hobart comes off two loss, by 18 points to Sandringham and 25 points to Casey.
The Tornadoes come off a nail-biting two-point victory over Knox Raiders in a low-scoring affair, with a 57-55 result.
They then repeated the result against Diamond Valley with a 79-77 victory.
In contrast, the Pioneers have certainly been at the top of their game, but did suffer a loss last weekend against the undefeated Bendigo Braves, by just seven points in a solid effort.
They backed up on Sunday with a 33-point win over Dandenong to stay on track for a strong finish to the season.
There were few double-figure scores against Bendigo, with Miela Goodchild (22), Cassandra Brown (11) and Zitina Aokuso (11).
in the win over Dandenong it was a different matter, with Goodchild (20), Haliegh Reinoehl (11), Sherrie Calleia (10), Brown (25) and Imogen Rock (12) all contributing well on the scoreboard.
Aokuso is a big inclusion, with the club patiently waiting all season to see her in action.
She has wasted no time getting in on the action and should vastly improve over the final two minor rounds.
With the Pioneers up in third place on the ladder, a real chance exists for a top-two finish, which would be the ideal outcome.
Whether any side can beat the Braves this season remains to be seen, but if given a chance, the Pioneers will certainly give it a real go.
However, the focus now is simply to finish the season as strong as possible and see what unfolds during the playoffs.
