It was another bitumen burning road trip for the OneFortyOne Mount Gambier Pioneers women in their first finals appearance of the 2022 NBL1 South season.

A qualifying final against the Ringwood Hawks was the occasion and the home team was on fire early setting the pace and scoring the first points.

The speedy Marta Hermida worked hard for the Hawks alongside Marena Whittle, Jacqueline Trotto and Toni Farnworth who all had the ball on a string finding the basket on many occasions.

Mount Gambier struggled, but found something stemming from Cassandra Brown, Haleigh Reinoehl and Sherrie Calleia who combined to close the lead.

But Ringwood still held the ascendancy and enjoyed a narrow lead of six points at the first change.

Quarter two started with a bang for the OneFortyOne Pioneers with the inform Hannah Young drawing the first basket for the visitors.

Some tough defence from the Mount Gambier team nullified the Hawks scoring power in the initial stages of the second term.

Eventually the Pioneers equalised the scoreboard thanks to the smart work of captain Jasmin Howe, but Ringwood’s Digna Strautman had other ideas and took the lead back.

However, the tall timber of Brown, Young, Shakera Reilly and the crafty Calleia along with a level head from Howe put the Pioneers passion to the fore and stole a five-point lead as the teams went into the half time break.

Although Ringwood worked extremely hard, it was the visitor’s term after they scored a match-high total of 24 points.

After the half time interval, the Pioneers’ pride was on the court with some outstanding basketball which was attributed to Brown, Reinoehl, Calleia and Young.

The home team still had some patches of good play from Whittle, Trotto and Hermida but the strong Pioneers women held their heads high and carried a narrow two-point lead into the last change.

With a home preliminary final on the line it was all about work-rate and making the baskets count for Mount Gambier and once again Young brought the energy by scoring early in the last quarter.

In the initial stages of the final term both sides made errors, but still made the most of the opportunities that arose.

A thrilling finish was on the cards as the scoreboard remained even.

Ringwood never doubted its ability and drive to win the game while the travellers had to dig extra deep.

Hermida, Strautmane, Whittle and Trotto were the main stays for the Hawks and a late push guided them home to the finish line.

Young, Brown, Reinoehl and Calleia showed true grit in the fight for victory, but had to settle for a narrow seven-point loss.