The Sovereigns championship outfit notched up its second win of the season with a 49-45 victory.

The return of Andrea Tai was pivotal. The deadly-accurate shooter played three quarters of the game and was a key figure according to division one coach and championship assistant Kim Bailey.

The services of Melbourne Vixens mid-courter Khao Watts was also huge. She played the first half and was a standout.

Sovereigns changed up their combinations in the second half as Tai took a quarter out and Watts had fulfilled her duties. 

The new mix did not fare as well as Sovereigns’ six-goal half-time lead was trimmed to one goal heading into the final quarter.

Tai returned to the goal circle and combined brilliantly with Amy Carroll to steady the ship and steer the Sovereigns to an important win. Bailey was rapt with the result, not only to get the four points, but to do so in such a manner that will give the group great belief.

“She (Watts) made a really big impact,” Bailey said.

“We were really pleased. The girls were challenged and they dug deep, sometimes you just need to learn how to win and that was a big stepping stone for us. We’ve had opportunities in the past and we’ve just let them go.”

Meanwhile, the 19/unders opened its account with a four-goal win.

Sovereigns had control over the game for much of the night, opening up a sizeable lead before a late Waves fightback brought it back to four goals.

Bailey was impressed with the performance from what is an extremely youthful 19s line-up.

“They’re a really inexperienced team, there’s a lot of bottom-age girls. But the girls that we needed to stand up did.

Similar success could not be enjoyed by the division one side. It went down by eight goals in a match coach Bailey was bitterly disappointed with.

Entering the match, division one had been the best performed side of the three grades, but Wednesday night’s 59-51 loss is one that got away from the Sovereigns.

After a 16-13 start, Bailey said the side lost its focus and the result slipped their grip.

“It was our most disappointing game for the season.

“We just lost our focus...I believe we are a better team than that, but we just had a poor game.

“It’s just disappointing we couldn’t get the three wins, because we had the opportunity to last night.”