The Southern Steel captain was not making any excuses for the 70-50 loss to the Northern Mystics.
She was not avoiding any of the blame either.
Certainly there was no escaping the horridness of the result.
The 20-goal margin was the second-biggest losing margin in Steel history, a 31-goal loss to the Central Pulse in 2018 being the biggest.
It was also just the fourth time the team has conceded 70 goals.
The better news is that championships are not won in week two of the season.
Perhaps it is worth remembering that just 10 weeks after that 31-goal loss in 2018, the Steel beat the Pulse in the ANZ Premiership final.
Saunders is one of just two players — Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit being the other — remaining from that night in Porirua.
While not shirking from the mistakes the team made, she said it was important the team did not dwell on the performance as it hosted the Northern Stars in Invercargill tomorrow.
‘‘I think just that we learn from it and move on,’’ she said of how to respond to the loss.
‘‘We get to play them two more times, so we can see how we go next time, it’s only one game.
‘‘We need to make sure we play to our strengths and remember what we’re good at.
‘‘The Mystics, they’re the champions for a reason, they’ve got a pretty awesome team throughout the court, plus their bench. We just need to realise it was going to be a tough game and they just brought it to us better on that day.’’
There had been a disconnect in the team and a forced reshuffle to the line-up had not helped.
Saunders said personal errors crept into the group, while she felt the team went away from its strength of playing as a unit.
Part of that was perhaps understandable for Saunders.
The normally ultra-fit and consistent midcourter has had limited time with the team, both due to being away with the Silver Ferns and a dosage of Covid-19 on return.
‘‘I’m definitely on the road to recovery.
‘‘I’m not back to peak fitness of what I would normally be at this time of the season, after having a huge pre-season and stuff.
‘‘But that’s all right — it’s a long season, so I’ve still got time to get that.’’
Those factors had also limited the time she had to form connections with new shooter Saviour Tui and to reconnect with Georgia Heffernan.
It was something she was confident would come.
‘‘It is pretty tough. With Saviour I’ve never played with her at all and she’s learning a new position at goal attack, too.
‘‘It’s just trying to figure out how she plays and what her strengths are.
‘‘I think just slotting in a new combination too.
‘‘It just takes time and we probably haven’t had that time just yet.
‘‘Luckily we’ve got that time and one game doesn’t dictate the whole season. So we’ll be looking to improve the connection there.’’
George Fisher has been cleared to play tomorrow, after being managed with a knee injury last week.
Renee Savai’inaea was hopeful, although would be on limited minutes.
The Stars have had just one game, due to Covid-19, and emerged 57-52 winners over the Mainland Tactix.
They are a classy outfit, but Saunders said an internal focus would help the Steel.
‘‘I think the main thing is we’ve got to focus on ourselves.
‘‘Just holding on to possession of the ball. Their defence is really strong and really rangy. Making sure we play away from their strengths, that we play under them or use ball speed.
‘‘Their attacking unit is very slick too, with Gina [Crampton] and Maia [Wilson] and Jamie Hume.
‘‘So just making sure any ball we get we treasure it, because it is tough to get ball off them.’’
