Gallery | Mooroopna denies Shepparton comeback in after-the-siren classic

The Cats held a 14-goal lead (14-28) and were in control of the match heading into the second half.

However, after half-time, the Bears ground their way back into the match by slowly chipping away at the deficit and by the time the fourth quarter arrived, the lead had been cut back to three goals.

After half-time, Mooroopna had been resting some of its players due to illness, but as the Bears gained ascendancy (thanks in part to a loud and passionate crowd that could smell an upset), the Cats had no choice but to reinject their players back into the game.

A Shepparton boilover was on the cards, with the Bears taking a four-goal lead late in the match.

The star for Shepparton was goal shooter Kim Borger, who was a force to be reckoned with on the day; Borger finished the match with 44 of the Bears’ 48 goals.

Young gun Mackenzie O’Dwyer was also electric for Shepparton, playing wing attack for two quarters and centre for one.

As the final siren drew nearer, the Cats’ energy and urgency became more frantic as the reality of letting this match slip dawned on them.

However, when the going got tough, captain Ash Lancaster (26 goals) and star defender Dayna Williams stepped up and wrenched the momentum back the Cats’ way.

The scores were tied at 48 apiece with only a handful of seconds remaining when Lancaster won a free in attack before the final siren was blown.

This allowed the captain to take a breath, set up her shot and throw truly to steal a last-gasp win over the Bears (48-49).

Mooroopna coach Di Hanslow was proud of her side’s ability to claw its way back into the match after losing the lead, as the Cats coach believes her players learnt a lot more from this match than if they had won comfortably.

“We saw what they (Shepparton) could do; I think we got four or five down in the last quarter and then they (Mooroopna) just switched back on and that made the difference,” Hanslow said.

“If we had gone away and capitalised on this match (and won by a lot), we would have been patting ourselves on the back and not going away and thinking we have a whole lot more to build on our game.

“That’s the positive and we get the four points.”

With several Cats playing through illness, Hanslow was happy that her side was able to win ugly during Saturday’s intense and tight match.

“First half was great; second half, look, we made a lot of changes in that third quarter,” she said.

“We probably made a few too many changes after half-time, but we were trying to look after the sick girls.

“(Caitlin McLachlan) was sick today, so we knew we had to give her a bit of a rest and we had a couple of other sickies this week with Jacqui (Ball) as well.

“To know that we got ourselves four goals down and then to pull it back the way we did, to pull it back with a different combination in that goal circle just to steady the game, was great.”

In other matches, Shepparton Swans defeated Rochester in a high-scoring affair, 52-71.

Swans coach Jana Riordan played her 250th game for the club, with the Swans honouring their coach with an impressive win to stay in the hunt for finals.

The match itself was highly skilled, with fast ball movement and good pressure from both sides.

Eventually, the Swans’ height advantage became too much of an issue for the Tigers, as tall goal shooter Natasha Atkinson-Brown finished with 39 goals.

Euroa bounced back from the previous week’s loss to Mooroopna by beating Shepparton United by 22 goals.

The Magpies were led in attack by Mia Sudomirski (24 goals) and Olivia Morris (38).

Euroa will face a nervous wait to see how long player-coach Ellie Warnock will be sidelined for after she injured her knee in the third quarter.

Seymour continued its charge up the ladder with a convincing 27-goal win over Mansfield.

Star Lion Ellie Fuhrmeister was on fire in attack for Seymour, finishing the match with 33 goals.

Third-placed Tatura was dominant in its victory over Benalla away from home.

The Bulldogs pulled away from the Saints in the second term with a 15-3 effort before taking that momentum into the second half of the match to win convincingly, 21-70.

Echuca has made it six wins from its past seven matches (one draw) after it defeated Kyabram by 34 goals to finish round 11 in fourth place.