mmg.com.au

Shepparton Lady Gators can push up the Country Basketball League north east conference ladder with a win against Wangaratta Warriors tonight.

The Lady Gators have won two of their first three matches, while the Warriors are the only remaining undefeated team after beating Deniliquin Lady Giants, Maryborough Lady Blazers and Seymour Lady Blasters.

The Lady Gators also defeated the Lady Blazers in their double-header last weekend, but was beaten by Seymour by one point last Saturday.

Grace Hide, Christina Reynolds and Carly Judd will return to the side this week, but it will be without a major height boost as key tall Rhianna Barton is out due to her formal.

Chloe Hall is also still out due to a knee injury.

Shepparton coach Chris Judd said the Lady Gators have to limit the influence of the league’s leading scorer Larissa Laverty, who has scored 77 points in three matches.

‘‘She seems to be their height and their strength and then I think we match up fairly well against the rest, so if we can do a job on her that might help our cause,’’ Judd said.

‘‘We’ve put a few things in place at training so we can combat someone who is extremely tall.

‘‘Time will tell I suppose, but they’ve certainly taken it on board.’’

The Lady Gators were inaccurate in their match against Seymour last Saturday and were overcome in the dying seconds by one point.

Judd said the team had a problem with finishing, but said it was working at training to correct the problem.

‘‘I liken it to a bit of a disease; if one person starts missing easy baskets then it spreads through the whole team,’’ he said.

‘‘Hopefully we’ll address all these little problems, and they’re not major problems, they’re minor problems.’’

The match starts at 7pm at Wangaratta Indoor Sports and Aquatic Centre.