Ladder leaders Lake Boga continued their unbeaten start to the season with a hard-fought 20-goal win over Tooleybuc-Manangatang in a high-scoring affair on Saturday afternoon.
Billed as a battle between David and Goliath, it was the winless Saints who served it up to their more fancied rivals throughout the early stages, with Tooleybuc-Manangatang’s youngsters outplaying their experienced opponents to take a one-goal lead into quarter-time.
Even though the Saints continued to fight, the unbeaten Magpies showed why they are still the team to beat after the first break, scoring 19 goals to 12 in the second quarter, before producing a big second half on their way to a 70-50 win.
It was the highest-scoring game of the 2024 Central Murray A grade season to date, with 120 goals scored between both clubs – an average of two goals for every minute of play.
While Lake Boga were slow out of the blocks, Magpies assistant coach Sheridan Harrop said she was still pleased with the way her players responded after quarter-time.
“It took our girls a little bit longer than we would have liked to settle into the game,” Harrop said.
“We had a lot of forced errors and they (Tooleybuc-Manangatang) were up and about and firing and really took the challenge to us.
“We were a bit slow to start and couldn’t convert some of our passing into our attacking third.
“We made some poor choices there and they converted straight away.
“They (Tooleybuc-Manangatang) stayed with us right up until late in the second quarter when we started to play our game a little bit more and had the game played on our our terms.
“We didn’t realise until the end of the game how high-scoring it was, but talking to the girls it was just one centre break after the other – it was nonstop.
“There wasn’t a lot of delay in the game and if there was a turnover, it was straight in.
“We probably had a bit of an off day from our perspective, which happens from time to time, but we were happy that our girls were able to settle, regain their composure and go on with the job in the second half.”
Lake Boga GS Sarah Hepburn was dominant in the ring and shot 57 of her team’s 70 goals, while at the other end of the court Tooleybuc-Manangatang GA Summer Blachford was equally impressive in scoring 37 of the Saints’ 50 goals in what proved to be a tough day for defenders according to Harrop.
“Both teams’ attacking players rebounded really well so it was a hard task for our defenders and their defenders to get any of those rebounds,” Harrop said.
“It was one of those games where you had to find those little moments to try to shut down the opposition from scoring and it really came down to their passing into the ring for our defenders to try to stop them there.
“Summer (Blachford) played a really good game and moved well into the ring and didn’t miss with her shots on goal, it was really good to see another young girl stepping up.
“Olivia Fowler played a really good game in their defence as well and challenged a lot of our passes into our attacking end.
“For us, Katie (Carmichael) was really good both in the ring and working down the court and Taigan O’Shannassy had a strong game in the centre as well.
“She (O’Shannassy) is getting better each and every week and is a vital link in our transition from defence to attack now.”
Tooleybuc-Manangatang will face another big test this Saturday when they host Balranald, while Lake Boga will travel to Lalbert to play the Mallee Eagles.
FINAL WHISTLE
LAKE BOGA 70
TOOLEYBUC-MANANGATANG 50
