A poor third quarter cost the Riddell District Football Netball League in its Worksafe Victoria Country Championships match against Alberton Football Netball League on Saturday at Romsey Park.
The teams were even at the first two breaks, with the scores locked at 16-all at half-time.
The home side made some positional changes after half-time to try and get an edge.
“In the third quarter we took off Hope Hamilton and moved Renee Hulls back to goal shooter and Christine Harris into goal attack,” assistant coach Kim Bailey said. “It was about trying to get some more height in the circle.
“Cayley Armstrong had a calf injury so we took her off and replaced her with Tran Truoung.”
The changes backfired with Alberton shooting 11 goals to five in the third quarter to take control of the match.
Hamilton returned to the court in the final term and it helped steady the home side as they pegged the score back to 30-all.
Riddell’s defence used a holding the ball decision against Alberton to move the ball down court, giving goal attack Christine Harris the chance to put Riddell in front but she missed. Alberton seized on the opportunity and scored twice to hold a two-goal margin with 40 seconds to go.
Hamilton goaled to reduce the margin to one, and Harris missed her third straight shot, this time to level the score.
Alberton goaled on the siren to make the final score 33-31.
“The most disappointing thing was the number of unforced errors and throwing balls away,” Bailey said.
“They were a little shorter than us and maybe we underestimated them a bit.”
