WGHS certainly had the potential to make a heroic comeback in the final quarter but after goal-shoot Grace Nikora went down with an injury with seven minutes to go, Whangaruru were able to hold on for the four-goal win.
"We did well but we dropped a little bit in the middle of the game and made it hard for ourselves," Whangaruru coach Tawhi Tua said.
Tawhi said it was a good sign to see her team playing well as a unit in the second quarter, but she knew issues around transition through the mid-court needed to be fixed going into the remaining four games of the championship round.
"In that second quarter is actually how we want to stay because we played well," she said.
"Hopefully, that'll be something we can work on during the week at training, maintaining that intensity through the whole game and not having patches."
WGHS coach Sophie Tua said if her team had started better, they might have been able to clinch the game at the end. However, she was happy the girls were able to finish within five goals of Whangaruru to secure a bonus point.
"Whangaruru started really well which was a bit of a worry for my girls, but we've got a bonus point so that's good and they closed down an 12-goal lead."
Sophie said it was good to see a competitive game between the two sides, but knew WGHS needed to work on securing the ball in the game's middle stages.
"We lost a lot of ball towards the end of the first quarter and the second quarter where we couldn't get enough possession off our centre passes, and when we did get it, we threw it away."
In the round's other games, The Bubz beat Naumai 59-42 and Manawanui White beat Wahine Toa, 59-41.
