Lady Wolfpack look to lift level heading into playoffs

THE Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves weren’t far off the top two women's SBL teams all season long and now coach Vlad Alava is confident the Lady Wolfpack can go up a couple of gears ahead of their quarter-final match up with the South West Slammers.

The Wolves ended up finishing the 2015 regular season in third position just two games behind the Rockingham Flames and Willetton Tigers, but that had them three matches clear of the fourth placed Mandurah Magic.

Joondalup will now take on the South West Slammers in the quarter finals starting at Eaton Recreation Centre on Friday night as Alava attempts to take the Lady Wolfpack into championship contention again after winning the title in 2013.

Alava has set his sights on getting the Lady Wolfpack back to the grand final in 2015, but he knows that can only happen if they take their game to the next level from where it was in the regular season despite them entering the playoffs on a five-game winning streak.

"We are looking forward to the playoffs and recognise that we will need to lift our standards of play if we are a chance to figure in the last game of the season. We are confident in our ability to step up a few more levels during this play-off periods," Alava said.

"We know that that this part of the season you've got to show up and play to your ability or you end up celebrating Mad Monday earlier than what every team in the play offs wants too."

The Slammers' season might have not have kept up the momentum they had early on, but they did finish off winning four of the last five games.

And with the likes of Deonica McCormick, Patricia Bright, Kate Fielding, Bianca Donovan, Kelly Bastow and Brittany Gliddon, Alava knows the Wolves will need to play well to beat them and to advance to the semi finals.

"The Slammers are a very capable side and one that can cause havoc with their offensive options," Alava said.

"We need to make sure that we continue to execute our game plans and make life difficult for them on both ends of the floor. They have the experience and talent that will provide us with a challenging quarter final match up."

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Serene-Elise Photography




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