Shepparton resisted an almighty fourth-quarter surge from Shepparton United to extend its Goulburn Valley League record to 2-0 on Saturday night.
Down 38-27 at the final break, the Demons unleashed a 16-goal blitz that almost whisked the rug from beneath the Bears — and if the game had gone for another five minutes, they probably would have.
Nevertheless, Shepparton shut the gates in the nick of time to hold on for a 47-43 win, leaving coach Stacey Thompson largely content when all was said and done.
“I was so happy with three quarters of the game,” Thompson said
“The last five minutes we held on, which was great, and we didn’t allow them to come back any more.
“I would’ve loved the 11-goal margin to have been the end point, but from where we were from last week, we’ve improved, we minimised our errors and made the most of our opportunities which is all we needed to do, so I’m happy.”
From the get-go, Shepparton made the most of early gains as Kim Borger set about asserting her dominance in the circle as she rained goals on United’s parade.
The wily offensive asset displayed fluid movement as she worked neat angles with excellent service from the Bears’ midcourt maestros.
At the opposite end, Demons goaler Tamara Skinner was exerting her experience as she dropped in a barrage of conversions from range to keep things tight.
Shepparton kept a five-goal separation throughout the majority of the second term and built it out to eight at the main break.
The consecutive 13-goal quarter that followed afforded Thompson’s troops breathing room as Keeley O’Dwyer and Hannah Crawley shackled Diaz Barzen and Skinner, leaving most at Deakin Reserve’s main court thinking all was sewn up with one stanza to play.
However, United had other plans.
Shepparton conceded turnover after turnover and Hannah Onley quarterbacked the Demons’ resurgence as the imposing shooter drilled one after the other to dial up the nerves on the Bears’ bench.
United playing co-coach Laura Cole led from the middle with a string of feeds into the circle and, for a time, the side in red looked ripe for the upset comeback.
It was not to be, though, as the Bears firmed up and did just enough to escape with four points in the bag.
Thompson doted on a clinical improvement from last weekend’s win over Mansfield, showering praise on a select few who stood tall in the face of adversity.
“(We had to) do what we did last week, but score off the turnovers,” she said.
“We took the ball 49 times off Mansfield last week and scored off less than half, so I just knew if we did that better this week we would give ourselves a shot of coming out on top.
“They did a really good job for three-and-a-half quarters.
“Keely O’Dwyer had the most amazing first half, Kim Borger was ever accurate under that goal ring and Erin Scott in wing defence took some fantastic ball for us.
“It was a real mix across the board and all our midcourters played their roles at different times.”
Earlier in the day, Mooroopna also made it two wins without defeat as it put Benalla to the sword by 45 goals.
Ash Lancaster proved to be captain fantastic as she drained 53 of the Cats’ 69 conversions, while youngster Rhani Hendy turned heads with sumptuous midcourt service in what appeared to be the start of a long-standing A-grade career.
Around the courts, Euroa saw off Tatura 53-42 in a fixture that will undoubtedly repeat come finals, while Shepparton Swans mustered a 10-goal beating of Mansfield.
Lastly, Rochester’s first home tie was a resounding success as the Tigers ousted Kyabram 58-46.