Lavington’s stellar season continued at home on Saturday thanks to a 50-42 victory over Wangaratta.
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Making the performance even more impressive was the fact it came without star defensive duo Rhiannon Dolahenty and Kate Yensch on the court.
The unbeaten Panthers jumped out of the blocks with a 17-9 opening quarter and maintained their advantage throughout the afternoon.
A strong second term saw Lavington take a 30-17 lead into the long break, before the Magpies rallied in the second half, winning the final two quarters to finish eight goals short.
Lavington coach Tamara Mathews said starting strong was the key given the absences in the defensive third.
“We knew we had to defend hard across the court to give our circle defenders the opportunity to lock down their shooters,” Mathews said.
“We set ourselves up and were able to take that into the rest of the game.
“We knew they would keep coming, but our girls just kept responding.”
Mathews said Dolahenty is likely to be back from a broken arm next week, while Yencsh will also return to make it a full strength line-up.
“The great thing is the girls have been able to step up and be versatile and flexible enough to cover girls when they're unavailable and we haven't lost anything by doing that,” Mathews said.
“I thought Sarah Meredith was outstanding right across the court, both in her defensive work in the circle and also the way she attacks.
“She drives the ball down the court for us.
“I thought Skye Hillier also had a really good game at goal shooter.”
The win over Wangaratta starts a tough month for the Panthers in perfect fashion, with their closest rivals North Albury, Albury and Yarrawonga awaiting in the next three rounds.
”It will be a good test to see where we're at and hopefully we can maintain top spot,” Mathews said.
Wangaratta coach Kellie Keen was proud of the way her side lifted after half-time against the best in the competition.
“There were some good passages of play in the second half and we were able to nullify that 13-goal deficit at half-time to eight,” Keen said.
“It wasn't enough, but we did push on.”
“To have them missing a couple of players was probably a bonus for us, but we didn't take that advantage.”
In the remaining games, Yarrawonga outclassed a much-improved Myrtleford outfit 59-46, Albury was too good for Wodonga Raiders 48-29, North Albury took care of Corowa-Rutherglen 55-37, while Wodonga won a thriller against Wangaratta Rovers 36-35.