Diamond Creek 2 booked their spot in the Section 6 preliminary final after defeating Panton Hill 1 by 12 goals at La Trobe Sports Stadium.
The two sides produced an entertaining semi-final, putting bodies on the line and challenging for every pass that came their way. Ultimately, it was the Creekers who were able to maintain their lead throughout and have brilliant first and last quarters to prevail 34-22.
Starting their finals campaign with a bang, Diamond Creek had an excellent opening term which got underway with a five-goal run.
The flow in the Creekers attacking end was as fluid as ever and their timing was impeccable. The midcourters were able to hit circle edge with few problems and created plenty of space as a result.
All of the feeds were coming from the top of the circle and Lauren Howlett was able to get a lot of depth on second phase to either land in the pocket and reoffer or get that spot on the top of the circle.
Rhianna Kirwan (18 goals) was everywhere out on court, getting into the thick of it in both attack and defence. She kept on interrupting the Redbacks transitions with her smothering defence in the middle third.
They kept their foot down throughout the quarter and finished with a strong five-goal lead at the first break.
Panton Hill however slowly started to claw their way back and won both the second and third quarters by a goal.
Their efforts were led by Shaylen Ridsdale Wellington who proved to be a good link between both sides of the court.
Her closing speed was amazing as it drew the defence away to give her enough space to drive towards the circle edge.
The Redbacks were planning on a comeback though, closing the deficit to three-goals going into the last break.
Their defence kicked it up a notch with Elly Synan and Stephanie Jansen getting rebound after rebound. Jansen also did a mountain of work in attack which worked well in the Redbacks favour.
Alexandra Carlin was kept busy in the attacking circle and finished with 14 goals while teammate Brooke Ryan converted eight chances into goals despite being closely checked by Diamond Creek defender Vanessa Smith, who made sure to close off options to the ball in the Redbacks attacking end.
But just as the Redbacks looked to close the gap, Tianah Wilks-Smith went down with an injury, leaving Panton Hill with just six available players on the court and as a result, the Creekers took full advantage, scoring 12 goals to three to take the win and move on to the preliminary final stage.
