City West Falcons have held Boroondara Express at bay to record their second win of the Victorian Netball League championship division.
The Falcons started slowly before hitting the front towards the end of the first quarter.
Once in front, they stayed there, winning 53-48.
For Falcons coach Marg Lind, the Monday night win was pleasing.
Both sides had a shorter break than usual and with other netball commitments, many of the Falcons had played three games in six days.
“It was a really good win,” Lind said. “It was a big increase in workload.
“They had a pretty good line-up, with Emma Ryde and Samantha Gooden from Melbourne Vixens and Collingwood in goals.
“We were in control for a lot of the game and got it out to 10 goals in the third quarter.”
“They re-jigged their line-up going into the last. We threw a few balls away late so it should have been a six- to seven-goal lead.”
Kath Knott finished with 42 goals from 47 attempts, while Stephanie Puopolo shot 11.
The win is the Falcons’ second of the season. After a disrupted first game, they have had the same combinations for the past two games.
“We’re not quite there,” Lind said. “We’ll get better connections and get better working together. Steph and Kath haven’t played together for five or six years and their games have changed in that time. We’re trying to get them in sync.
“Steph hasn’t played with Maggie [Lind] and only played with Molly [Jovic] at Victorian Fury. They are starting to come together.”
With the Falcons sitting at 2-1, Lind said they were happy with the start of the season.
“I thought we had a tough draw first up,” she said. “MU [Melbourne University] was always a danger game and Blaze [DC North East Blaze] and Boroondara are always difficult. I’m happy with two wins – it settles us down.”
In division 1, a 20-goal last quarter got the Falcons over the line against Boroondara.
The Falcons led by one goal at three-quarter time before shooting 20 goals to 12 in the final quarter to win 59-50.
Tharjini Sivalingan shot 28 goals for the Falcons, including 18 from 20 attempts in the final quarter.
