Agony for Panthers as they blow 10-point lead

Keeping an unchanged side throughout, Nena Copperwaite’s side were possibly within a couple of seconds of defeat after their trademark mental frailties reared their heads again in a 42-all draw.

The match was not a minute old when Donna Brehaut popped in the Panthers opener, clean as the proverbial whistle, and although it was swiftly cancelled out, Panthers’ converted wing attack was again on target with her next two efforts, the third of which she achieved from the base of one leg and leaning back.

Shooting colleague Steph Batiste was not as deadly when her opening opportunity came her way and it was fully five minutes in before Brehaut’s run of successes ended as she clipped the rim and the ball bounced clear.

It was a temporary blip as she popped in the next attempt and when Batiste netted for the first time it was 5-5, seven minutes in.

By the quarter’s end and despite a small degree of fallibility from the home shooter, Panthers were 15-7 to the good as Brehaut continued to be the key figure.

At the other end of the court the new defensive combination of Lorna Hall and Gemma Batiste were hustling and frustrating the Swan shooters who found their opportunities to shoot far more limited than the home team.

But, of course, Panthers have been in such good positions before and the question was, could they live with it?

The answer was, initially, a resounding yes as the margin widened to 10 early on in the second before Panthers briefly fell asleep and saw the lead halved.

Thankfully, for Copperwaite’s side and the 60-odd supporters on the gallery or court side the ship was steadied, all the while the captain dispensing those trademark flat passes.

Panthers were clearly winning the mid-court battle too and as the margin returned to 10 it was clear their biggest threat was in their own minds.

At half time Panthers were 24-19 in front and while the quarter ended on a low for them, coach Verona Tomlin declined to make any personnel changes.

She may have had cause to regret that as Swan continued to peg Panthers back in the third, the margin hovering around the four-five mark as too many home players began to blow and make more errors as their concentration suffered.

The lead was down to two at one stage and going into the final quarter the game was still in the balance at 34-31. But again there were no changes for the last 15.

Tomlin had faith in these seven starters, yet Swan had their tails up and with four minutes left Swan were ahead.

Going into the final minute the scores were tied and as the Swan shooter was about to line up a decisive goal the horn went to Panthers’ relief.