Orange outscores opponents 211-43 during dominating start to Regional League

Coach Lana McCarthy praised her team's efforts which saw them outscore opponents a combined 211-43 on Sunday.

Their most challenging game was the first of the day against the host side Bathurst.

"We thought that they would be our toughest opponents and they were," McCarthy said.

"They've got some beautiful players in the Bathurst team and they probably matched us the most in terms of physicality and contesting.

"I was pleased with how we performed in that game. We probably started off a bit slow in the first half and Bathurst were really matching us. We talked, adjusted and went back to our game plan and then came out a bit stronger in the second half and came away with a solid win in the end."

The 30-17 win was the only time Orange gave up double digits on defence.

This year's competition is slightly different to those in the past, with just the one division to combine all teams, rather than dividing them up.

This meant Orange played against unfamiliar faces from Lithgow and Mudgee.

"It was interesting to play teams from other regions that we don't normally play against," McCarthy added.

"It was the first hit out for the season so we were a little bit rusty to start off with but definitely built throughout the day and got all the girls on every game and tried out new combos every half."

The second round and finals will be held in Orange on March 6 and while a grand final win would delight McCarthy, they are building for bigger things.

"What we're doing is using Regional League in preparation for the opens state titles which are in June," she said.

"Ten out of the 11 players we had at regionals are going to the state titles so for those games we weren't necessarily being pushed, we still had our own team performance goals that we wanted to work on and wanted to achieve."

The final two games of the series will see Orange take on Dubbo's number one side, before taking on Orange's second team. Finals will then follow on from those.

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