With only one victory between them after seven rounds of Horsham District A Grade netball, Swifts and Taylors Lake saw Saturday’s clash at Dock Lake Reserve as a rare chance to add to their win column.

But somehow both teams missed out after fighting out a 36-36 draw.

The Lakers trailed by six goals at the half and three-quarter-time breaks, but finished strongly with 13 goals to seven in the final term to split the points with the visitors.

Taylors Lake coach Sharon Fedke said she was happy with the way her team performed in the final quarter, but lamented its inability to play consistently across four quarters.

“If we’d played the whole game like we played the last quarter, the outcome of the game might’ve been different,” she said.

“I felt like the game just flowed a bit better in the last quarter and we stepped it up a little bit.

“We have to find a way not to wait until the last minute to play that sort of netball – we have to do it for four quarters, not just one.

“I’ll take a draw over a loss any day, but we’ve still got to look at our structures and how things are working.”

Fedke said she would use the league-wide bye this weekend to examine areas for improvement.

“As a coach I think I need to have a good look at myself and work out what I could have done differently – could I have made some changes earlier or done something else that could have helped the team out?” she said.

“I’ll go back and review the footage and see where I could have done things better to help the team out.

“We’ve still got a lot to work on. We’re still finding our way.”

Among the game’s best players were Laker goalie Tayla Eltze, who scored 25 times for the afternoon – matched by Swifts counterpart Jade Ralph at the other end of the court.

Another thriller played out at Pimpinio Recreation Reserve, with the hometown Tigers going down to visiting Noradjuha-Quantong by one goal.

Pimpinio led 13-11 at quarter time, but the Bombers exploded with a 16-9 second term to grab a five-goal advantage at the long break.

The twists were far from finished, as Pimpinio regained its composure to even the scores at three-quarter time.

In the final term the Bombers worked their way to a 48-47 advantage, and time expired with Pimpinio in possession of the ball in its defensive third, denying the Tigers an opportunity to even the scores.

Bomber goal defence Leah Mirtschin was tireless in her efforts to blunt the effectiveness of Pimpinio’s Tahlia Thompson, one of the league’s best goalies, while centres Jess Leader for Noradjuha-Quantong and Emily Hannan for Pimpinio were each outstanding.

An annual Battle of the Rocks game between Laharum and Natimuk United recognising the region’s Indigenous cultures resulted in a 58-50 win for the Demons at Cameron Oval.

Little separated the sides in the first half, but Laharum pulled away in the third quarter thanks largely to the efforts of goal shooter Caitlin Jones-Story, who was awarded a best-on-court medal following the clash.

Other top performers included Jones-Story’s fellow goalie Ilze Van Zyl and Natimuk United pair Stacey Hopwood and Beth Sudholz.

Kalkee downed Harrow-Balmoral in another back-and-forth encounter, leading by four goals at quarter time, trailing by three at the half and three-quarter-time breaks and finishing strongly to win 37-30.

Kee Tamika Mentha played a crucial role in the midcourt, while Emily Polack was stout in defence. Best for Harrow-Balmoral were Megan Little and Brittany Burns.

Kaniva-Leeor United was too strong for Rupanyup, winning 63-20 behind a 34-goal outing from Abby Croft.

There are no games this weekend, with round nine to be played on June 13. 

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