Otago warmed up for the national championships with a draw and a win against Canterbury in Timaru yesterday.
The first pre-season game ended in a 57-57 draw, and Otago won the second 54-47.
Coach Nicola Jones was pleased with the manner in which Otago fought back in both games after trailing early.
Canterbury, led by silky goal attack Angela Williams, held 18-14 (first quarter) and 32-25 (half-time) leads in the opening game but Otago pulled the deficit back to four goals (45-41) going into the final quarter.
With Lizzie Sandom shooting well, Otago erased the deficit and neither side could land the killer blow in the final minutes.
Canterbury again leaped in front in the second game, up 16-13 after the first quarter and 28-23 at half-time.
However, Otago came to life in the third quarter, scoring 23 goals and allowing Canterbury to get just six, giving Otago a 46-34 lead going into the final quarter.
Canterbury won the final quarter by five goals but Otago had done enough in the third quarter to win.
Veteran shooter Jo Morrison played three quarters in the final game, landing 18 of 21 shots, while Jodi Brown (20 from 25) and Sandom (10 from 10) also found the net accurately.
Jones said Otago was disappointed to start both games slowly but there was plenty to be happy about over the two games.
"We fought back well in both games after giving up a bit of a lead," she said.
"And the good thing for me was that there was no impact when we changed combinations. The girls gelled really quickly."
Otago's defence was a feature in both games, with Louise Thayer pouncing on any scraps of ball in the goal third.
Otago wing defence Hayley Saunders injured an ankle in the first game and could not play in the second.
Jones will get another opportunity to fine-tune combinations when Otago plays the men's team in Dunedin tonight.
