EASTERN RANGES 5.5 (35)
WESTERN JETS 10.2 (62)

WESTERN Jets claimed the NAB League Girls Metro Division minor premiership and a huge slice of momentum into Friday night’s Division Final against the same opponent with a convincing 27-point victory at Healesville on Sunday.

After the Ranges had stolen an early march with three goals to two in the first quarter, the Jets found another gear, kicking 6.2 to 0.1 across the middle two terms to emphatically take control of the game, before Eastern won the last quarter by two points to find a bit of confidence before the sudden death rematch.

And you didn’t have to look far to work out who the catalysts for the win were – Charlotte Baskaran and Montana Ham – with the former earning 29 disposals, six tackles, nine inside-50s and a goal and the latter gathering 28 touches, five marks, nine tackles and six inside-50s.

Caitlin Sargent gained a share of the lead in the competition’s goalkicking with three majors from six marks to move to 17, while Sierra Grieves kicked two and Laura Elliott had five rebounds.

Hayley McLaughlin and Izzy Khoury had 18 disposals each and Mia Busch 17 for Eastern, while Molly Paterson took six marks, Ava Campbell grabbed five, Jade Hutchinson stuck 10 tackles and Jacinta Hose had 22 hitouts, but they will be hoping star midfielder Bridget Deed returns from Hawthorn VFLW duties for the finals.

DANDENONG STINGRAYS 10.8 (68)
TASMANIA DEVILS 4.10 (34)

EMILY Shepherd had only kicked six goals in 15 NAB League matches before Saturday, but almost doubled that tally with a matchwinning five-goal haul as her Dandenong Stingrays brushed aside third-placed finisher Tasmania by 34 points at The Hangar.

The Devils needed to win and hope Geelong lost to stay alive and should have been in front at half-time after kicking 3.7 to 5.2, but the Stingrays dialled it up in the second half with five goals to one to win comfortably.

Shepherd was on fire with three goals in the first term and added two more in the last as she finished with 15 disposals and five marks to go with her bag of goals, while Amber Clarke had 18 disposals, five marks and a goal, Olivia Robinson had 16 and a goal, Mackenzie Eardley took four marks and had five rebounds, Felicity Crank had five inside-50s and four rebounds and Tara Quinn made five rebounds.

Brooke Barwick was Tasmania’s best player with 17 disposals, six inside-50s and a goal, Tunisha Kikoak had 16, four marks and four rebounds and Charlotte Vandenberg won 20 hitouts.

SANDRINGHAM DRAGONS 4.3 (27)
GWV REBELS 7.3 (45)

GWV Rebels saved its best performance for the last home-and-away game when they overran Sandringham Dragons by 18 points at RSEA Park on Sunday.

After a tight first quarter saw the scores locked together, the Dragons looked like they were gaining the upper hand when they kept the Rebels scoreless and edged eight points clear by half-time.

But the visitors came out re-energised after the main break and kicked three goals to one in each of the third and fourth terms to bank their second win of the season ahead of the repechage finals this weekend.

Paige Scott was best-on-ground for GWV with 21 disposals, six marks, seven tackles and three goals, while Molly Walton (24 possessions, seven marks, six tackles, one goal) and Lilli Condon (24, seven inside-50s, one goal) weren’t far behind and Olivia Leonard (19, six tackles) and Lily Jordan (two goals) also enjoyed strong performances.

Key defender Georgia Foran had one of her best games for Sandringham with 16 possessions, eight marks and 11 rebound-50s, while Sofia Hurley was again prolific in putting together 29 disposals, five tackles and a goal, Keeley Coyne won 20 touches, five tackles and six inside-50s, Meg Webster took six marks and Pia Staltari had five inside-50s.

GIPPSLAND POWER 5.12 (42)
NORTHERN KNIGHTS 7.9 (51)

A MORE efficient Northern Knights claimed their second victory of the year and kept Gippsland winless after coming from behind to win by eight points at Gaskin Park on Saturday.

As with last week, the Power jumped out of the blocks, but missed the opportunity to put the Knights away after kicking 2.6 to 0.1 in the first term, and despite holding their lead until the third minute of the final quarter, it came back to bite them as they lost despite having six more scoring shots and 16 more inside-50s.

Northern won despite being without their best player in Ava Jordan, with Suwindi Buckley having 19 disposals and eight tackles and Michaela Molenberg 15 and a goal, while Rylie Willcox returned from six weeks out to kick two goals and Christina Papadimitriou kicked the first two goals of her NAB League career in her ninth game.

Lulu Beatty took seven marks, Lauren Jatczak had 24 hitouts, Ashley Fitzpatrick four marks and five tackles, Georgia Tait laid nine tackles and Molly McErlain and Mia Haas seven tackles each.

Ash Centra, 15, was terrific for Gippsland in her first year at the level, having 19 disposals, five inside-50s and three goals, Alisha Molesworth had 21 touches and seven tackles, Ahlee Penry grabbed 19 possessions and 15 hitouts, Yasmin Duursma 19, four marks and a goal.

Indiana Makai (10), Tylah Burn (nine) and Macie Gilmour (eight) were tackling machines for the Power, with Makai also having five inside-50s.

CALDER CANNONS 5.5 (35)
OAKLEIGH CHARGERS 5.4 (34)

CALDER is the hard-luck story of the NAB League Girls season, missing the finals despite a 7-2 record after Olivia Manfre kicked a late goal to pip Oakleigh by one point at Highgate Reserve on Saturday.

The Cannons conceded the first two goals but worked their way into the lead at half-time before edging clear seven points clear at the last change.

The Chargers took the lead again through Amelie Smith and Charlotte Taylor, but a behind to Reese Sutton cut the margin to five before Manfre booted the winning goal with 77 seconds left on the clock.

Sutton was terrific for the Cannons with 19 disposals, seven tackles, six rebounds and a goal, while Heidi Woodley also had claims to the three votes with her 22 possessions, six tackles and six inside-50s, Amy Gaylor had 17, six tackles and a goal and Ellie Sbeghen had 24 hitouts.

MURRAY BUSHRANGERS 8.7 (55)
NORTHERN TERRITORY 8.9 (57)

A FAST-finishing Murray Bushrangers just failed to overhaul guest team Northern Territory in a terrific game at Highgate on Sunday.

The Thunder flew out of the blocks with the first four goals in their only game in the NAB League Girls this season and blew the margin out to 26 points midway through the second and again early in the third term as the Bushrangers struggled to make any inroads.

But three goals in three minutes to stars Zara Hamilton (two) and Keeley Skepper gave the Bushrangers hope and they gradually whittled the margin down, getting within two points when Skepper kicked her second with 6½ minutes still to play.

Both teams desperately tried to find a matchwinner, but they could only manage one behind apiece as time ran out for Murray.

Murray dominated the stats sheet with the top five possession winners on the ground, led by Skepper, who had 30 disposals, five inside-50s and five rebounds to go with her two goals, while Hamilton racked up 28, four marks, six tackles and two goals and Grace Hay almost doubled her previous best game in defence with 28, six marks and six rebounds after the early loss of gun midfielder Zarlie Goldsworthy (13 disposals, one goal) to injury.

Tayissa Gray also had a season-best performance with 21, six tackles and six inside-50s, Mindy Quade kicked two goals to retain a share of the league goalkicking and Destiny Dodd had seven tackles.

Cassie McWilliams led Northern Territory’s even performance with 18 disposals and 10 hitouts, Tatyana Perry had 17 and five marks, Grace Whittaker, Kierra Zerafa and Kyanne Campbell kicked two goals each, J’Noemi Anderson and Rhania Hewitt made eight tackles each and Ciaralii Parnell contributed eight rebounds.

GEELONG FALCONS 9.11 (65)
BENDIGO PIONEERS 4.10 (34)

GEELONG warmed up for its Country Division Final with a 31-point win over Bendigo at Deakin University on Saturday.

The Falcons jumped out to a 17-point advantage and withstood a Pioneers fightback that saw them take the lead when Drew Ryan goalled three minutes into the third quarter, responding with 4.3 to 0.1 for the rest of the term before cruising home.

Lizzie Dowling was unstoppable for the Falcons with 28 possessions and two goals, while Sara Howley also had 28 and added seven inside-50s, Charlotte Simpson had 19 and one goal, Analea McKee 16, five marks and two goals, Bella Gilham also kicked two, Chloe Bryant and Aimee Wookey took four marks each and Ash Van Loon stuck eight tackles.

Stephanie Demeo enjoyed a breakout game for Bendigo with 23 disposals and four rebounds, Lila Keck again impressed in winning 23 and having four inside-50s, Octavia Di Donato had 19, five marks and five rebounds and Jayda Richardson had five rebounds.

FINAL LADDERS

COUNTRY: Dandenong 36 (263.5%), Geelong 24 (104.6%), Tasmania 16 (128.6%), Murray 16 (108.0%), Bendigo 8 (71.4%), GWV 8 (58.7%), Gippsland 0 (28.5%).

METRO: Western 32 (203.6%), Eastern 28 (226.4%), Calder 28 (117.0%), Sandringham 16 (112.5%), Oakleigh 12 (74.5%), Northern 8 (58.1%).

THIS WEEK

DIVISION FINALS: Friday, April 1: Western Jets v Eastern Ranges (La Trobe University, Bundoora, 7.30pm). Saturday, April 2: Dandenong Stingrays v Geelong Falcons (Skybus Stadium, Frankston, 11.30am – heraldsun.com.au).

REPECHAGE MATCHES: Thursday, March 31: Calder Cannons v Northern Knights (Highgate, Craigieburn, 7pm). Saturday, April 2: Bendigo Pioneers v GWV Rebels (Queen Elizabeth Oval, Bendigo, 10am); Murray Bushrangers v Gippsland Power (La Trobe University, Bundoora, 11am). Sunday, April 3: Sandringham Dragons v Oakleigh Chargers (RSEA Park, Moorabbin, 10am).

(All games are streamed live on the NAB League app except for the Herald Sun game, which is on that website).

NEXT WEEK: Grand Final, April 9: Winner Country v Winner Metro.

LEADING GOALKICKERS

17: Mindy Quade (Murray Bushrangers) 2
17: Caitlin Sargent (Western Jets) 3
15: Amber Clarke (Dandenong Stingrays) 1
15: Bellah Parker (Tasmania Devils) 1
14: Lizzie Dowling (Geelong Falcons) 2
14: Zarlie Goldsworthy (Murray Bushrangers) 1
13: Georgia Clark (Tasmania Devils) 0
12: Analea McKee (Geelong Falcons) 2
11: Mia Zielinski (Sandringham Dragons) 0
10: Alyssia Pisano (Eastern Ranges) 0
10: Georgia Wilson (Eastern Ranges) 1

Twitter: @BRhodesVFL