After a long pre-season of training, the Big V women stepped onto the court for their first practice match on Sunday (Feb 8) against Darebin. In a competitive match, 13 players took to the floor in the Venom's 87-40 win.

Though Darebin play in a lower division than Warrandyte, both teams used the practice match for the purpose of getting players ready for the season ahead, running through offences and working on some set structures.

The Venom ran 13 players, including newcomers Janelle Lucas, Sharlene Dalsanto and Rebecca Heddles, while in total seven players aged 18 years or younger showed the enormous potential of the standard coming through from the junior ranks.

Meg Dargan led the way with 16 points, Jess Oram and Billie Addlem netted 12 points each, while Janelle Lucas added 11 points and Lauren Sabidussi scored 10 points.

Addlem and Oram, along with Dalsanto, Ash Brobbel and Jaz Borella showed the strength on the boards that should see a big improvement in this area of the team's game.

Coach Justin Nelson was pleased with the team's first outing, particularly the early signs of the way in which the team is working together.

"I think the girls really enjoyed the chance to finally get out in a game situation and start getting some of the structures in place."

"The size of the crowd was also pleasing and I think they enjoyed seeing this new group take their first steps together. Personally I was really impressed with our rebounding and our work ethic overall. To run 13 players equally across the game provided us with the exact result we were looking for."

"These games present a great opportunity for all of the players to learn more about each other's strengths and weaknesses. We have a couple more games this week, so we'll see how we progress from here. All up we'll play about eight games before the regular season starts, so it's a perfect lead in."

The Venom's next pre-season game is against Ringwood this Thursday at Oxley College (Chirnside Park) from 8pm, before backing up two nights later at Mornington Secondary College against the Mornington Breakers from 7pm on Saturday evening. All supporters are welcome.