The Panthers ended Yarrawonga’s slim minor premiership hopes with a cracking 44-39 win.

The home side has 16 wins and a draw and meets eighth-placed Wodonga Raiders in the final round.

“We were really looking forward to the game because we knew they were back to full strength and we’ve been back to full strength,” Lavington coach Tamara Mathews said.

“We’ve spoken about wanting to put four quarters together all year, which we’ve probably only done on a couple of occasions and I think both times we’ve played ‘Yarra’, we’ve done that.

“The girls were outstanding for four quarters, they started well and were just relentless.”

The Panthers jumped the visitors, racking up a six-goal lead at quarter-time.

“They were really sleek and full credit to them, they didn’t miss, they capitalised on their opportunities, we probably didn’t, that was it,” Yarrawonga coach Bridget Cassar said.

In her 100^th game, Kate Yensch was superb, while fellow defender Sarah Meredith was best on court.

“Sarah was outstanding, both when she was back in the circle and when we swung her to wing defence, she just created some great turnovers,” Mathews said.

The Pigeons cut the margin to three goals late, but Sarah Senini steadied with two goals.

“I knew she’d bring that composure and, yeah, when she put the long bomb up, I knew she was feeling confident,” Mathews said.

Senini finished with 24 goals while, in her first game for a month after illness, Cassar shot 32.

“This is the first time we’ve all been together since round two, we were probably a little bit underdone in skill work,” Cassar said.

“We’re still nutting out our combination, I know what they’re going to throw at us, we’ve got to sharpen up and really get on top of our fitness.”