Melbourne Vixens have held their composure during a tense final quarter to grind out a hard-fought 62-57 victory over the Giants and keep the Sydneysiders winless after three rounds.
The Giants returned to Melbourne's John Cain Arena for the first time since last season's heartbreaking preliminary final loss when the Vixens came back from nine goals down in the final quarter to snatch a famous 55-54 victory.
With scores tied at 57-57 entering the last five minutes of Sunday's game, the home side played with greater composure in the closing stages to shut out the Giants and secure their second win of the season.
The result caps an eventful start to the campaign for the Vixens with last season's grand finalists losing a one-goal thriller to West Coast Fever in round one before they were the beneficiaries of an officiating error in a dramatic comeback victory over cross-town rivals Collingwood.
Captain Liz Watson revealed Melbourne's focus on retaining possession for long stretches during training paid dividends against the Giants in crunch time.
"Just look at our last two games, there were probably opportunities when we could have (held the ball) but we want to keep attacking and keep scoring," Watson told Fox Sports.
"I think we were really smart in the end to score when we needed to score and held the ball when we needed to."
The Vixens capitalised on five unforced turnovers from the Giants in the opening quarter to edge ahead 15-12 with Watson providing slick service to last week's match winner Mwai Kumwenda in the goal circle.
Melbourne continued to build on their early advantage, skipping out to a seven-goal lead approaching halftime, but the outside shooting prowess of Sophie Dwyer and Jo Harten came to the fore as the Giants pair added four two-point Super shots to trim the Vixens lead to one.
Buoyed by their fast finish to the opening half, the Giants looked sharper in the third period and with Jamie-Lee Price acting as the driving force in midcourt, the visitors surged ahead by five goals nearing the end of the quarter.
But Kumwenda struck back with two Super shots of her own and Kiera Austin added another as the Vixens levelled the scores at 47-47 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Vixens now prepare to face the Sunshine Coast Lightning at home on Saturday night while the Giants travel to Adelaide for a must-win clash against the Thunderbirds on Sunday.
