Bathurst Panthers league tag side through to Group 10 preliminary final

Christie-Johnson’s Panthers raced away from the Bears at Wade Park over a strong second half to record a 22-6 win, and book a rematch with recent qualifying semi-final opponents Orange Hawks at the same venue.

Following tries to Panthers’ Jess Hotham and Tidarat Nongkhu the Bears were able to bring the score back to 10-6 through a Payton Toshack try and Abbie Uhr conversion.

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Panthers kept their nerve when the heat was on and gave themselves a comfier margin through Lailee and Kaitlyn Phillips tries.

“It came as a bit of a shock. I wasn’t aware it was coming up but it was a nice surprise,” Christie-Johnson said of her milestone match.

“Then to get the victory as well just topped off the 100^th game so nicely.”

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The Panthers captain described the contest as an arm wrestle but believed Blayney’s try spurred her side into action across the game’s back half.

“In our first half we probably had more of the possession but needed to execute more in attack. We went in 10-0 up but in the second half they scored first and that put some pressure on us.

“We knew we had to fire up at that point and we were able to run away with it.”

Panthers will now play Hawks for a shot at a grand final appearance against rivals St Pat’s.

The women in black are aiming to turn around a 12-4 loss to their Orange opponents.

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