Costly turnovers and wayward shooting from Panthers had Scots All Saints College (SASC) up 19-8 at the first break and while Panthers showed some slight improvement in the second quarter, the Lions were up 30-22 at the main break.

But a second half turnaround from Di Coombes' team saw them outscore their opponents by 18 goals to claim a solid 61-51 win.

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The win marks Panthers first win since the split of the A grade, in what was the first round of the competition in six weeks, following a break for the school holidays, poor weather and COVID-19.

Coombes said she was pleased with how well her team fought back to win.

"It's a great result. We had a very slow start but I thought we worked our way back into it," she said.

"We just set a goal each quarter, get three or four back and before we knew it, we went into that last quarter down by one."

Coombes admitted her team was a bit sloppy to start the game as it was their first game in almost six weeks.

"We knew it was going to be tough and with the COVID, we haven't been able to train. He didn't train last week and we've had one training session in the last six weeks," she said.

"The fitness showed this week and every team is going to be in the same position and we knew that was going to happen.

"We're going to be in there and set our goals each week, get our fitness back up and hopefully get a bit more match play into us."

Coombes was full of praise for her team's defence.

"Our defence was great, played really well," she said.

"Taliyaha Chatfield, our goal defence, I thought had a great game. Ella Muller, I felt like she changed the game really well.

"We got better as we went but I thought we shot well in the final quarter and rebound well. I thought everyone lifted throughout the game, but the defence was a standout today."

In the only other A grade game match on the weekend, Bulldogs Verdelho got the better of Collegians Mystified 35-25.

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