A horror third quarter by Dunedin means they have landed a far tougher opponent for the quarterfinals of the New Zealand open championships in Auckland today.
They will play the home team, who went unbeaten in pool play.
Dunedin started the tournament well.
They edged Manawatu 45-38 and recorded a comfortable 44-27 win over Hawke’s Bay in their first two pool B games.
They led Christchurch 22-16 at halftime yesterday. But the third quarter was a write-off.
Christchurch outscored Dunedin 18-5 to take a 34-27 lead into the final period.
It was a massive swing, and Christchurch went on to win 45-36.
Dunedin coach Janine Southby said they strung together some errors, which proved costly.
"We had a little bit of a lull in proceedings, unfortunately, and they had a real surge," she said.
"We just couldn’t match it.
"There were just some silly mistakes. And they changed their attacking end and it just took us a bit to adjust to that."
Dunedin’s quarterfinal opponents, Auckland, shape as one of the teams to beat.
"They’re a very experienced team ... and a couple of them have played a lot together, so it is going to be a really tall ask.
"But we’ve got nothing to lose.
"I worked out the average age of our team the other day and it was 19.75 years.
"The girls have been doing really well and it’s a big ask when you don’t have those experienced players scattered around.
"But they’re playing an exciting brand and we’re getting some really positive feedback from people about the way we’re playing the game."
In the other quarterfinals, Hamilton will play Tauranga, Counties-Manukau and North Harbour will go at it, and Christchurch will play Cambridge.
