By Tara Murray
City West Falcons continued their winning start to the Victorian Netball League with a strong performance against the Geelong Cougars.
The Falcons were at home at Altona for the first time this season and had a crowd of more than 500 turn out to watch them.
After a slow start, the Falcons kicked into gear and were able to beat the Cougars, 68-36.
Falcons coach Marg Lind was pretty happy about the result in front of many of their next generation who had turned up to watch.
“It was a decent win in the end, we were able to try a few different combinations,” she said. “We were able to keep them to a low score which was good.
“They had the lowest highest score against them at that point. It was good for the defence end to keep them to that score.”
The Falcons started slowly and were down 5-0 before they settled and got going.
Lind said they had to adjust the way they were feeding Jane Cook and looked better once they did that.
“We were a bit ambitious with a few balls into Jane early on and we knew we had been,” she said.
“We talked about that before the game and they never do what I tell them.
“We managed to get a couple of turnovers with Charity [Nasilo] getting a few balls in the pocket and before you know it we were even.”
Lind said Nasilo had a really good performance and was able to start strongly having taken a while to get into other games.
At the other end, the Falcons were able to play a moving circle late in the game to give Cook a bit of a rest.
Cook led all scorers with 42 goals.
Lind said Lucia Fauonuku had another good game in defence. With Sussu Liai only playing two minutes due to a blister, Fauonuku got some more court time
“She has a bit more confidence and is a bit fitter,” she said.
Lind said it was difficult to select a best player on the court.
The Falcons’ 23 and under side fell just short to the Cougars, 55-54.
Both sides were missing players away at the national championships, with Falcons missing their starting shooters.
Lind said they had their chances but their inexperience showed and they were a bit wasteful.
She said Christine Ogouche and Taylor Donelan, who both filled in, played well in goals and they would look to use them more over the season.
The Falcons now have a break, with their next game the championship grand final rematch against the Boroondara Express on April 23.
