Dragons, who this week appointed former Australian Diamonds captain and coach Jill McIntosh as their new Head Coach, competed well and went into the first quarter four goals up.
But Team Bath showed tremendous resolve to outscore Dragons in the other three to earn three important points.
Team Bath were up against four former players, including University of Bath graduate Rachel Dunn who swiftly cancelled out Kadeen Corbin’s opener.
The teams went goal-for-goal early before Dragons pulled 12-6 ahead thanks to goal shooter Dunn and Gabby Sinclair’s clinical finishing.
Team Bath reduced the arrears to four before the end of the first quarter and introduced Jayda Pechova as goal keeper who added more solidity against the tricky Dragons’ attack.
Pechova’s attempted interception on Sinclair just fell short and helped the goal attacker put Dragons 25-19 up, but the hosts rallied with five unanswered points to find a way back in into the contest, Bethan Dyke’s speedy centre pass concluding with Corbin’s lay-up shot during a confident spell.
Ali Wilshier cleverly located Betsy Creak under the post to level it up at 32-32 at half-time after a pulsating 15 minutes.
Dragons made five alterations before the third quarter which was more error-strewn from the visitors as Bath gained control, Imogen Allison starting a move with Corbin feeding on a loose ball to set up Creak, who made it 39-33.
Impact player Hannah Passmore had a goal disallowed for contact on Shaquanda Greene-Noel to leave the scores at 43-42 ahead of a mouth-watering final quarter.
A rapid interchange of goals left the crowd enthused with Corbin nudging Team Bath ahead at 47-46 following a superb interchange with MVP Dyke.
Georgia Rowe, on her first outing of 2023, levelled the scores at 53-53 for Dragons but the last three minutes saw the hosts gain superiority with three goals, Passmore wrapping up the scoring with 20 seconds remaining.
Interceptions by the determined Pechova and Caroline Mtukule in the final attack for Dragons spurred the crowd further as they could relax in the closing stages with Team Bath over the line.
Match Report provided by Team Bath