They may not have won on the scoreboard, but our young Venom Big V women sure did put on a great show against division one heavyweights Werribee in game one of their semi-finals series.

Never taking a backward step, the Venom played with enormous integrity during a rough game, always stepping up and displaying all the qualities of a team that is destined for bigger and better things in the future.

Giving away an average of eight years and hundreds of games of experience to the Devils, our girls never stopped running and manufacturing  opportunities. Not only did they put up more shots than Werribee, but they also forced the title favourites into 24 turnovers due to extreme pressure at both ends of the floor.

Despite the 49-74 loss, coach Justin Nelson was delighted with the effort of his young team.

"I thought our girls were fantastic, they just never gave an inch and absolutely delivered everything we asked for pre-match," said Nelson.

"When you give away so many years and games of experience, not to mention size and weight, it always makes the task a little tougher, but I don't think we had one supporter in the stands that wouldn't have been impressed by the effort of Warrandyte.

"I know at time talking about the future can seem like a distracting view on the here and now, but we are very much focused on where this group is going. Making the finals this year is a great achievement, and we're still in there, but the future is extremely bright and Saturday's game against the Devils was a terrific sign of what's ahead for the club." 

One game down, the Venom now goes into a do-or-die game two this Saturday night at Werribee from 7.30pm.