The Southern Magpies beat old rival Phys Ed A 61-56 in the Dunedin premier competition on Saturday.
Phys Ed A found its connections in the opening few minutes of the game and pushed to a handy 6-2 lead before letting Southern back into the game.
Shortly after the eight minute mark, Southern was able to equalise after forcing Phys Ed into silly turnovers, and Southern took control of the rest of the quarter to lead 18-12 at the first break.
Neither coach made changes to start the second quarter and Phys Ed scored four quick goals.
However, in what was to become a pattern throughout the rest of the game, Phys Ed was unable to close the gap any further.
Southern midcourters Nicole Meikle and Zoey Flockton made it look easy at times and were largely untroubled by their Phys Ed counterparts.
They provided precision ball to Jen O'Connell and Sophie Erwood to finish off, and Southern led 33-26 at halftime.
Phys Ed coach Alice Wells brought Laura Overton on at goal keep, moving Kate Gilchrist to wing defence to try to restrict Southern's access to its shooters.
Southern again had a scare from Phys Ed in the final quarter with the margin back to one goal, but crucial mistakes and wayward passing enabled Southern to hold on for the win.
Southern caretaker coach Deb Tasi-Cordtz said with three of the players just returning from the under 19 tournament last week, she was happy with how they performed.
''They have had a full on week. It was always in the back of my mind,'' she said.
''It was a full team effort. Those who weren't involved in under 19s pulled them through.''
Tasi-Cordtz praised Southern's decision making in the final quarter.
''Our bodies were tired but our heads were still in the game.''
Phys Ed coach Alice Wells said her team found it hard to gel after three weeks off.
''Our flow on court probably wasn't as good as it's been and that was just probably because we have lost connections having three weeks away from each other,'' Wells said.
Wells was happy with the team's second half efforts as Phys Ed started to find better consistency.
''A lot of our errors were our own personal errors, but then we started looking after the ball, treasuring it, scoring off it and also picking up a few turnovers off them.''
In the earlier game, University Albion A beat Southern Tui 57-45. Yesterday, College A beat University Albion B 87-36 to finish the round.
By Jaimie Keay.
