Defending CBL champions Myrtleford Saints were handed a first-round loss in their North East Women title defence on Sunday, going down to Albury Cougars 61-65 at Lauren Jackson Sports Centre.

Up against the fierce Cougars, with a new-look squad which was missing several key players from last season’s title, Myrtleford attacked and defended well for large portions of the match.

The Saints were up for the challenge early, only trailing 30-31 by the half-time whistle, but as the match wore on, Albury’s class would prove too great to handle.

A 21-15 third term for the Cougars all but put the game top bed, despite Myrtleford wining the final quarter to bring the margin to just four points, a commendable start to the season.

Coach Kory Batt said while it was disappointing not to walk away from Albury with the win, he was pleased they were able to match it with a strong opponent for most of the game.

“We played well, had some good opportunities to probably win the game, but just weren’t able to connect on a couple of different plays,” he said.

“Albury had a game before on Saturday night, they had a good win there and came out on Sunday firing.

“We had a bit of a slow start to our season with girls unavailable due to netball finals or various reasons, so we haven’t really had proper, full training as a squad, which has been difficult.

“The girls fought hard all game – Evie [Hughes] and Jorja [Reidy], they actually didn’t come off in the second half just due to foul troubles or the like.

“It was quite pleasing to push Albury, they’re going to be a very strong outfit this season.

“We’ve got a couple of young ones coming in for their first seasons, so in that aspect we’re quite pleased that we were able to stay with them, and to only lose by four points against that outfit was quite good.

“I think with the line-up we do have, I think we could probably challenge for finals again and hopefully take it all the way again.”

This weekend sees the Saints hit the road for one of the most gruelling away trips on the schedule, heading to Shepparton Sports Stadium to take on the Gators on Saturday at 5pm.

“It’s always a struggle to go on these road trips away, especially to Wallan and Shepparton,” Batt said.

“Having a look at Shepparton’s scores, they’re probably a little bit young as well this season, but we’ll get on the track this week and hopefully clean a few things up, head to Shepparton and come away with the W.”

The men’s team was also handed a loss, downed by the Cougars 37-79.

It was always going to be an uphill battle, with the Saints mustering just six players against the 13 Cougars who lined their bench and court.

The Saints were chasing from the first term, trailing 19-19 at the first break, before matching it with Albury to sit nine down at the half.

The Cougars dominated the second half, piling on 50 points while restricting Myrtleford to just 17 through the latter two terms.

Marcus La Spina (12 points) and Lachlan Russell (10 points) led the scoring for the Saints, but there weren’t enough rotations to keep the players fresh and fighting against a top-tier opponent.

The Myrtleford men take on the Gators on Saturday at 7pm.