Lightning started the match poorly and struggled to put points on the board in a first quarter which was dominated by Ballarat.

Ballarat came out of the blocks firing, scoring 15 goals by quarter-time, while Lightning struggled to get its hands on the ball and managed just seven goals for the term.

The Lightning players refused to let Ballarat run away with the lead and went on to score 17 goals in the second quarter, which left them trailing by five goals at the main break.

Lightning continued to chip away at Ballarat's score in the third quarter and goal shooter Sophie O' Shea struck form, sinking a number of goals to move her side within three of the lead.

The comeback was completed in the final term as Lightning scored 14 goals to Ballarat's seven to claim a 52-48 win.

Despite the impressive second half performance by her side, Lightning coach Joy Grubb was devastated with the result and said her side could have played a lot better.

"I was very disappointed because we always get a big win over them and it would have helped our percentage if we'd won by more goals," Grubb said. "But to their credit, they came out all guns blazing and we made many errors and couldn't get our hands on the ball."

Grubb hailed the performance of O'Shea, who, she said, deserved the most-valuable-player tag for the match even if Netball Victoria gave it to another player.

"She [O' Shea] was a good target for us all game and once we started to get the ball to her we looked a lot better," she said. "She scored 41 goals from 48 shots, which I thought was a great effort."

Next up, Lightning plays the Yarra Valley Grammar Ariels and Grubb is confident her team will notch up its fourth win.

"Hopefully, we will have Brooke Thompson available to play after her commitments with the Melbourne Vixens and she'll bring a lot of experience with her," Grubb said. "But if she doesn't play I still think we're a chance."

Anthony Loncaric