ROUND 16 of the Women's Premier League had a distinctive finals flavour about it.
Premiership hopefuls and top five incumbents PINT, St Mary's and the Darwin Buffettes all won convincingly, the Buffettes rebounding strongly from a loss to PINT in Round 15 to beat another top five side, Nightcliff, by 49 points.
The win was significant for the double blue jumpers, who had failed to kick a goal in their big loss to the rampaging Queenants seven days previously.
Imahra Cameron and Lucy Louis around the ball, the consistent Molly Althouse in the ruck and Machaelia Roberts across half forward were dominant players in the 11.10 (76) to 4.3 (27) win.
More importantly for coach Melinda Taylor and her players, the win lifted them to fourth position and a game outside the top three.
Taylor pulled on the Buffalo jumper for the second time this season and booted two goals.
"It was a good win for the girls in terms of percentage and beating Nightcliff on their own turf, which is always a good feeling,'' Taylor said.
"We're one game short of St Mary's and Waratah in the race for the double chance and those two play each other this week, so we have to keep winning.''
St Mary's spearhead Kaitlyn Armstrong kicked 12 goals in her side's 125-point win demolition of Palmerston at TIO Stadium.
The Saints midfield made Armstrong a focal point all match and she didn't let them down with some strong marking and powerful work at ground level in booting a dozen goals.
Billie Byers booted four goals and Adelaide Crow Danielle Ponter three in the 20.13 (133) to 1.2 (8) win that added an important 20 percentage points to the Saints' tally.
PINT beat Southern Districts by 105 points at Fred's Pass, Sarah Ingram and Reni Hicks starring in the 16.11 (107) to 0.2 (2) win.
Coach Rick Nolan said it was business at usual in the land of the Queenants, who won their 14th game from 15 starts this season.
"We're concentrating on the finals and how we can get better, this win has reinforced some areas we needed to improve on,'' Nolan said.
It was a similar story at Gardens Oval where Maria Rioli led her side to a 97-point win over the young Wanderers side.
Rioli added four goals to her match stats in a brilliant solo performance that set the standards for the rest of the side in the Tiwis' 14.13 (97) to nil win.
Ellerslie Hardwick and Kiri Marschall were other good contributors for the sixth-placed Bombers, who can close out their season with wins over Palmerston and Nightcliff in their first campaign in the WPL.
