Darling Downs Panthers secure Ruby Series finals berth in style

They’ve been waiting 20 long years, and now the Darling Downs Panthers have claimed a historic achievement in the Ruby Series.

Harriet Nicholson. Picture: Nev Madsen

NETBALL: It’s been coming for two long decades, and now the Darling Downs Panthers have their spot in history.

The Toowoomba-based side is into the finals of the Ruby Series for the first time after a clinical 64-49 defeat of the Wildcats at Nissan Arena.

With a win enough to secure their spot in the post-season, the Panthers were initially slow out of the gates, falling behind 10-4, before they were able to settle and turn that around to an 18-14 advantage at the first break.

They kept that momentum going into the second term, stretching the lead out to 32-26, before a dominant third quarter put the result beyond doubt.

The Panthers outscored the Wildcats 19-8 as their defensive pressure proved too much to handle, and goal shooter Kaylin van Greunen capitalising with her accuracy.

With one regular season round remaining, coach Bec Stower said they were looking to wrap up their spot in the finals prior to next week.

“We had a bit of a talk about it, but we didn’t want to put too much pressure on the girls,” she said.

“It was crucial to win because we didn’t want all that pressure on the last game. We worked out how many points we needed to secure fourth spot, we had a good preparation, good video analysis and were well prepared.”

With the Wildcats brimming with confidence after taking down the second-placed Tigers last week, Stower said it was important to stem their flow after a strong start.

“I called a time-out early because the thing with the Wildcats is they’re a confidence team,” she said.

“What they did to the Tigers was get on top early and they couldn’t recover. We couldn’t let it get out any more, and we knew what would happen if we got on top of them.

“We were able to find our groove and built some momentum.

“Our defenders were a little slow to start with. We had a talk about contesting the front space and keeping their eyes up, and I thought Caitlin (Skaines) and Harriet (Nicholson) really stepped it up in the second half.”

With a semi final against the USQ Jets locked in, Stower said they would look to finetune a few things when they return home to take on USC Thunder on Saturday.

“We really want to have a strong game for our mindsets. We need a better start and that will be a big focus,” she said.

“We’ll try and work through a few little things that we’ve identified like centre pass conversions and unforced errors that we can tidy up and will make a big difference coming into finals.”