MANA'S late season bounce back has taken them to a Bathurst Netball Association A reserve grade title.
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The Mana squad were too good for Panthers Mustangs in a 42-34 victory on Saturday, breaking clear with a vastly improved second half performance.
Mustangs briefly hit the lead in the third quarter, at one stage leading 24-23, before Mana hit six of the last seven goals of the term to seize momentum.
They didn't let the control of the match get away from them across the last quarter, and Mana's defence was at the top of it's game in the breezy conditions.
Winning coach Michael Germech said a strong start and an ability to learn from mistakes were crucial elements of his team's grand final victory.
"We wanted to be really efficient in windy weather like this. The first quarter really set that up for us," he said.
"In the second quarter we went away from that a little bit. We stopped driving onto the ball and that cost us."
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However, Mana recovered from the stumble to work their way clear of Mustangs on the back of better passing and shooting.
Germech highlighted the efforts of Kiara Bennett in stopping several Panthers attacks.
"In the second half we got back to careful, low feeds of the ball and we were getting in front of our opponents," Germech said.
"Defensively, Kiara, got a couple of key pick-offs. They were also trying to work the ground, and we knew that. Those couple of intercepts sealed it for us."
Mana threatened to run away with proceedings early in the match when they hit seven unanswered goals, taking the score from 2-1 to 8-2 in little time.
Mustangs looked rushed in their play during that window.
They turned the ball over several times inside Mana's third of the court and missed shots didn't help the cause.
Panthers found their feet towards the end of the quarter to bring the score back to 10-7.
Once again Mana got out of the blocks quickly to start the period and created a seven point buffer.
However, what had been an efficient Mana machine up until that stage began to show signs of malfunction as the team began taking riskier options in attack.
Panthers capitalised - scoring five of the last six goals - to cut the gap back to 19-17 at the main break.
Both teams' offences looked smooth at the start of the third quarter.
Play picked up in pace, and Panthers moved the ball well to briefly take back the lead.
Their joy didn't last long. A scrappy end to the quarter allowed Mana to retake the lead and from there they stamped their authority on the game.
While Bennett continued to stifle several Panthers attacks in the back court, Mana goal shooter Saphai Mitai-Ngatai and goal attack Jorja Hazell were both ruthlessly efficient.
Together they combined for 42 points from 50 attempts.