WODONGA coach Liona Edwards has vowed that the Bulldogs will bounce back from their two-goal loss to Yarrawonga on Saturday.
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The Bulldogs relinquished their undefeated record, even after clawing back the margin following a slow start, going down 55-53 on the Pigeons’ home turf.
“No loss is ever a good loss,” Edwards said.
“But because we’d been undefeated what it does is give us things to work on, and things we need to do and implement.
“That was their home court, and they’re always good at home.
“But what it’s done is given our team a bit of a wake-up call — I have great faith in these girls and they’re only going to take this on board and get stronger from it.”
The Pigeons came out onto the court the stronger of the two sides, taking a 16-12 lead into the first break having led at one stage by seven goals.
By half time that deficit was reduced to two goals, but the Bulldogs couldn’t capitalise.
“They came out really strong which they do on their home court,” Edwards said.
“We fought back in the second quarter which was probably our best — we played Bulldogs netball and got ourselves back into it.
“But we had a lot of turnovers and didn’t capitalise on opportunities our defenders were giving us.
“That said Yarrawonga were good, they dictated the play.”
While the Bulldogs struggled to maintain momentum, Jane Cook was irrepressible, netting 50 goals from 52 attempts at an impressive 97 per cent return.
Edwards also praised the efforts of the Bulldogs’ defence.
“Our defence did a really good job on Bridget (Cassar) and Abbey (Jones),” she said.
“Bek Ohlin, Maggie Young and Sarah Thomas did a great job and kept giving us opportunities.”
Despite the loss, Edwards remained upbeat about the Bulldogs’ season.
“To only lose to the defending premiers by two goals while not playing our best netball, there’s still a lot more to come from us,” she said.
Meanwhile it was a tight tussle when Wodonga Raiders hosted North Albury, with the Hoppers leading by just five goals at half time.
But in the second half the Hoppers ran away with the game to finish off 29-45 victors.
Kimberly Opdam and Jessica Fisher-Curnow were the Hoppers’ best, while Kirby Logie and Sarah Mellington were named best for the Raiders.