The LVFNL team, coached by Pyramid Hill juniors coach Karlee Gilmore, defeated Golden Rivers 58-40 at the Queen Elizabeth Oval on Saturday.

For Gilmore, who coaches the Bulldogs 17-and-under and 15-and-under teams, the win was a solid warm-up for Sunday’s Association Championships Northern Zone tournament at the Golden City courts in West Bendigo.

Loddon Valley will do battle with nine others teams, including a strong Bendigo Football Netball League outfit, with the top two teams progressing to the championships final on June 17.

Gilmore believed her players had thoroughly deserved their convincing, win after showing encouraging signs in recent tournaments and at training during the week.

“Sure the girls made mistakes here and there, but they played a great four quarters and have really come together as a team,” she said.

“We’ve been training once a week for about three weeks, but we have had two weeks of tournaments, which has really helped with their team bonding.

“They’re pretty tough tournaments, but I was quietly confident we had the team to get the job done.

“The girls were pretty excited during the week. We only had a light session because the girls play a lot of netball these days and we try not to overload them.”

Loddon Valley set up its win with a promising 17-9 first quarter and won three of the four quarters.

Golden Rivers produced its best netball in the second quarter and was able to even the goal-count at 11-apiece.

Goal attack Rylee Gallagher was named best on court for Loddon Valley and formed a formidable combination with goal shooter Shayna McCartney.

At the other end of the court, Katie McKellar impressed at both goal defence and wing defence.

A feature of the win for Gilmore was being able to give all nine players at least two quarters on court.

The winning LVFNL team comprised Shayna McCartney, Rylee Gallagher, Ashlee Bowers, Jarrenhy Webb, Erin Stewart, Katie McKellar, Shelby Webster, Abby Powell and Abbey Curnow.