Panthers were beaten 78-45 by London Pulse last weekend, the biggest winning margin of the season so far, but head coach Sonia Mkoloma said they showed “intent to bounce back” in training this week.

“They’ve got structures in place, they knew what they were doing and they trusted that they could do that. It was good to see we could put out a more consistent performance,” Mkoloma told BBC Sport.

“Even I got emotional, because the girls deserved that. In these last couple of weeks they’ve never given up believing that they can win this and they can win again.

“I said to them, we’ve never led at half-time. Embrace that feeling. We don’t fight it, because you might think it’s a negative feeling, you step up, recognising it and naming it so we can feel it again.”

Egbaran was Panthers’ leading scorer with 22, a total beaten only by Dragons’ Georgia Rowe, who netted 24.

“It was so exciting, even to the last second I was really feeling the pressure. Constantly talking to the whole attacking unit, saying, ‘We’re not losing this game,'” said Egbaran.

“Having a team that’s backing you up is just so important. It really makes you feel confident, especially when you’re on the shot.

“I can’t hide the smile. I feel so happy and I feel so happy for my team. We started off so strong, which is really important because you can lose that game in the first quarter and I felt like we pushed it to the last second.”

The Panthers’ win brings them level on points with seventh-place Leeds Rhinos, who lost 63-49 to Manchester Thunder.

Eleanor Cardwell, Lois Pearson and Sophie Fawns scored 23, 14 and 12 goals respectively as Thunder bounced back from last week’s defeat to Loughborough Lightning.

Meanwhile, Lightning continued their unbeaten season, emerging from a close encounter with Nottingham Forest with a 75-73 victory.

The league leaders pulled away from London Pulse, who had drawn level on points with Lightning after 56-46 victory in Friday’s derby against London Mavericks.

Lightning saw off their East Midlands rivals in a tense final quarter, condemning their opponents to their fourth consecutive defeat.

The win sees Lightning restore a three-point lead from Pulse to head the standings with 21 points.

Thunder remain third on 16 points, with no movement in the table in this round.