Forsythes have moved into third place in the Greater Open Championship off the back of a 42-35 win over BNC Whanau.
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The women in blue also scored their win after recovering from a slow start in the opening quarter, with BNC surging to a 5-0 lead early.
Forsythes recovered to trail by two at the first break, and a dominant 12-5 second quarter put them in control for the second half.
Despite a five-goal deficit at the half, BNC clawed their way back to a 31-29 scoreline, setting up a blockbluster final quarter that coughed up plenty of turnovers, shouts from the sideline, and an eventual victory for Forsythes.
The seven goal victory bumps the defeated side into fourth place, and puts Forsythes in striking distance of second place, a finish coach Traci Baber said was great after a “slow start”.
“We picked it up at the end of the first quarter and were really strong for the next three,” Baber said. “The team had a bit of a chat at first-quarter time and we said they probably didn’t warm up as well as they should have.”
“Effort went in for the next fifteen and that really showed on the scoreline.”
BNC and Forsythes have been contesting a stronger seed in the top four positions over the past few weeks, and Baber said she was especially pleased to pick up the win considering the club fell victim to them twice last season, and once already in 2018.
“It’s been a while since we’ve actually beat that team, so to pull out that good win was really good,” she said. “We’re really starting to play as a team, and it’s coming together for us.”
Forsythes are also still without defenders Angela Williams (due back in a month) and Natasha Robards (out for 2018 season), but despite absences Baber believed the team’s defence was “great” across the court.
“Circle defence plus all over the court we did really well today,” she said. “Our mid-courters pushed hard when they had the ball and we turned a lot of ball over mid court, then converted goals, so that was great.”
Elsewhere at National Park on Saturday, Souths Lions kept a two-point buffer over BNC and Forsythes with a dominant 77-28 win over West Leagues Balance 2.
Later, West Leagues Balance 1 had similar success with their 78-23 mauling of Maryville Tavern, while Nova defeated Souths Pride 50-45.
TABLE: Wests 1 (28), Lions (24), Forsythes, BNC (22), Nova (20), Maryville Tavern (18), Wests 2 (14), Pride (12).