THE Bendigo Strikers under-23 team were left lamenting a third-quarter lapse in Wednesday night's loss to Gippsland in the Victorian Netball League.
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The Strikers were beaten 58-54 at the State Netball Centre by fellow VNL newcomers Gippsland.
The Strikers led 28-26 at half-time, but the Stars gained the ascendancy during the third term, outscoring Bendigo 16-10.
Gippsland's strong third quarter gave the Stars an eight-goal lead at three quarter-time, which was a gap too far to bridge for the Strikers in the final term.
"We were pretty nervous last week (first game against the Southern Saints), so the girls were fired up to get out there and put on a good performance," Strikers' under-23 coach Jayden Cowling said.
"We started well, but there were a few errors through the middle of the game, particularly during the third quarter, that ended up costing the game.
"We only converted six of our 16 centre passes during the third quarter and you just can't afford to do that at VNL level.
"We were 11 goals down at one point and got it back to four, so the fight was there from the girls."
Chloe Langley scored 29 goals and converted at 82.86 per cent for the Strikers.
While beaten, the four-goal margin was a far more competitive showing by the Strikers' under-23s than the previous week when they were beaten 65-27 by the Southern Saints.
Bendigo's championship team had the bye this week.
Both the Strikers' championship and under-23 teams will be back in action next Wednesday night against the City West Falcons at the State Netball Centre.
The under-23s will play at 7pm followed by the championship team at 8.30pm.
