Eight goals down and none on the scoreboard, Cavaliers had nowhere to hide.
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It was certainly had not been the start that coach Dan Roden planned for against a rampaging Northern Hawks.
Everything shooter Ashlea Mawer touched early turned to gold and a smattering of brown for good measure.
The Cavs could barely even touch it inside the goal circle.
"I think when you staring at eight goals down, barely five or six minutes into the game, you start to get a little concerned," Roden said.
"We had talked to the girls about being really calm and know we're not going to win it in the first quarter.
"It's a 60-minute game and we know if we're in striking distance, we had the fitness to play out the game.
"We said it's one or two turnovers at a time and each quarter let's try and peg back the lead; half-time we were level. It took just 15 minutes to be in control, but we were prepared to take 30 or 45."
The switch was complete less than an hour later when Cavaliers secured a stunning 65-59 victory for the ages.
That remarkably was an additional 14 goals from the head start that turned things around from the impossible to the very possible.
Cavaliers held onto a four-goal break from the start and much of the final term before eventually they extended the lead further at the death.
"The Hawks are such a prolific scoring team that those four goals [to be in front] isn't enough," Roden said.
"I was still yelling in the last minute and a half. They can get four goals in a minute.
"It's a team that can shoot 80 goals in a game, so they can shoot really quickly.
"So we knew had to play it out and in the last five minutes, we tried to maintain a lot of the possession."
They first piled 11 of the last 18 first-quarter goals to restore the balance somewhat.
ELSEWHERE IN SPORT
The long looping pass over the back from goal attack Zoe Claridge to Mawer still caught their defence out.
But the Cavaliers midcourt pressured hard and harder again - and it worked a treat.
Shelby Miller was everywhere in the captain's 100th game and the player-of-the-match plaudits afterwards were testimony to where the match looked to be heading.
The two sides traded goals for much of the third before the Cavs tightened their grip.
"To our credit we continued to work really hard. I felt defensively we were the best team on court," Roden said.
"We really put the pressure on and keep building it throughout the court and that showed. Last time we played them, our goalie end didn't stand up as well as we would have liked.
"We had more attempts, but they won the game and to our credit they stepped up."
They contracted the defence into a back-half cluster, forcing Hawks into turnovers.
The tactic worked well for an unsettled Mawer to miss uncharacteristics goals.
Mel Philpott in contrast at the other end showed nerves of steel, clinging to every throw that came her way.
Philpott and Deanna Wadley broke their rivals' spirit with four unanswered goals in 90 seconds to ice the title.
Hawks coach Ruth Tuohy reflecting on the final result said complacency was not to blame after a dominant start.
"We were very focused in the warm-up that our start was important," she said.
"We also knew though that Cavs would be keen to come back and pick up on our errors, and they did well.
"So full credit to them."
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