University-Albion should have heeded the old adage "it's not over until it's over" in the Dunedin premier club competition at the Edgar Centre on Saturday.
University-Albion beat Southern A 54-51, but only after squandering a whopping 18-goal halftime lead.
The side opened strongly and amassed eight unanswered goals. Its shooters found space easily in the shooting circle and then accurately slotted the ball through the hoop.
At the other end, its defensive duo of Louise Thayer (goal keep) and Kat Dimitievska (goal defence) was restricting the Southern shooters' movements. Southern's Grier Campbell put up only four goals for the quarter and, at the break, Uni-Albion led 20-9.
In the second quarter, Uni-Albion again dominated, taking it 16-9. At halftime it looked poised for a strong victory over its perennial rival.
However, Southern had different ideas and made some dramatic and inspired changes. Coach Georgie Salter transferred Campbell from goal shoot to goal defence and moved Celina Ledgard to goal keep, bringing on Southern B shooter Stephanie Brensell to goal shoot.
These changes, both on attack and defence, worked immediately and, early on in the third quarter, Southern found itself making inroads into the deficit with six unanswered goals, followed up later in the quarter with another four on the trot.
Uni-Albion's decision to bench its star shooter, Jodie Brown, at halftime may have been playing on the mind of coach Noeline Scott. But with a lead of nine goals going into the final quarter, she stuck to her guns and backed her on-court players to bring it home for the team.
Southern worked tirelessly in the final 15 minutes, pushing Uni-Albion at every opportunity and winning the quarter 15-9. However, to misquote Mick Jagger, time was not on its side and it came up four goals short of a spectacular comeback win.
In other games, Southern B put Columba Senior A to bed 56-35 and College notched up another valuable win, beating Phys Ed A narrowly 46-43.
