Tara Murray
A stunning start to the second half was the key to the City West Falcons win against the Wilson Storage Southern Saints in the Victorian Netball League championship on Wednesday night.
Playing each other for the second time in less than a month, it was the Falcons that again came out on top, winning 63-52.
The Falcons had won the first match up with a similar result.
Falcons coach Marg Lind said there were similarities between the two matches. She said the Saints were always a good match up for them.
“It took a while but I think it was pretty much the same as when we played Saints last time,” she said.
“Again we changed our defensive strategy and then we started turning the ball over and got a bit more momentum.
“We made a couple changes in the attack end that worked quite well. Bringing Liv Cameron on was a good change.
“And Cookie [Jane Cook] just stood up a bit more in the second half. She said to me at half time, ‘what am I doing?’
“I said you’ve been a bit soft and she knew it and she was much better in the second half.”
Lind said the playing group again needed to recognise on court that the defensive structure needs to change instead of waiting for the coaches to tell them.
She said as soon as they made the change, things started to turn.
“I think we scored the first eight in the third quarter and that was with turnovers, four turnovers straight up made a big difference.”
Cook shot 32 goals while Uneeq Palavi shot 23 as they shared the minutes around with Olivia Cameron and Genna Ogier both getting court time in the circle.
Lind said Mel Oloamanu did some good things under pressure, as did Sussu Liai.
She said it wasn’t their best attacking game but they still scored more than 60 goals.
Lind said it was another good team effort.
The Falcons remain in top, six points clear of the Boroondara Express, which has played an extra game.
In under-23s, the Falcons beat the Saints 49-45.
Lind said after they started well they had a terrible game until late in the match.
“They lost the plot a bit, just wasting ball,” she said. “
The Falcons sit in fourth spot a game clear of the Geelong Cougars in fifth.
The Falcons this week face the Bendigo Strikers.
It will test the Falcons depth with the Pacific Netball Series on at the same time.
Mel Oloamanu, Palavi and Lucia Fauonuku will all miss the Strikers match along with under-23s player, Beyonce Palavi.
Lind said they had looked at moving the game, but stuck with the same time slot.
She said with it looking like Soli Ropati not making the trip to the series they would nearly have their starting line up.
“We just won’t have many options defensively, but we’ll probably sit some 23s there just in case.”
