Health and Life Phoenix have created a 4-point
buffer for themselves, in third spot, after defeating The Royal Cougars 58-43
at Netball SA Stadium on Friday night.
Assisting their cause was ETSA Contax
who thrashed Spring Gully Newton Jaguars by 22 goals, also on Friday night.
Phoenix coach Lee Anne Cummins said that
while the points buffer is nice, her side couldn’t look to far ahead.
“It puts us two games clear so it does
take a little bit of the pressure off, it doesn’t mean we can relax though too.
We’ve got to face up against Contax yet and Jags got thumped by them tonight,”
Cummins said.
The same cannot be said for the Cougars
with the loss adding a little more pressure on the side.
Captain Leigh Waddington says they must address the importance of their remaining matches if they are to feature in finals netball.
Captain Leigh Waddington says they must address the importance of their remaining matches if they are to feature in finals netball.
“They’re very important games and I
don’t think we should shy away from that, we have to look at that and they are
hard games. Positivity and, forget that game, now move on to next week.”
The opening quarter was fairly even
between the two sides as a regular pattern formed in the play. Phoenix continually
gained a 2-goal advantage only for the Cougars to level scores with
back-to-back goals each time.
Phoenix were displaying good pressure in
defence early and a sound attacking line with GS Mel Gibb and GA Mel Rowland
looking in good touch. Gibb in particular was in nice touch considering her
being bed ridden for 3 days prior to the match. Phoenix led at quarter time by
two goals.
The second quarter saw a small
adjustment to the Cougars attack with Jo Nixon shifting to GA and Leigh
Waddington to WA, which was a good move with them combining well. The Cougars
settled mid-quarter after trailing by 4-goals.
However, the Phoenix defence continued
their good pressure not allowing the Cougars any momentum and the Phoenix
attacking line was proving efficient as they went to the half-time break
leading by 2.
Phoenix co-captain Dalice Kennedy came
on at GK in the third quarter, shifting the Phoenix players one position up
court with WA Erin Scheepens coming off. This move did not unsettle the side at
as the Phoenix continued their consistent performance from the first half.
Kennedy’s direction was proving
extremely useful for her side as the Cougars lacked execution with the ball.
The lead stretched to 6 goals early in the third, Mel Rowland proving unstoppable
as she continually shot from mid-range. Phoenix extended their lead at the
final break to 7 goals.
The Cougars faced an uphill battle in
the final quarter, even though they trailed by just 7 goals going into it. The
Phoenix defence was not letting up and on the back of their good work they
moved out to a 13 goal lead with just six and a half minutes remaining.
It was a disappointing finish for the
Cougars who just lacked a bit of experience in the closing quarter of an
important match. The Phoenix were continued on realising that percentage was
important with such a tight competition ladder, going on to win by 15 goals.
Cummins happy with her side’s four-quarter
performance particularly after sickness had affected them.
“Happy with the effort probably over the
four quarters, still some lapses in each quarter but also too we had quite a
bit of illness in the team, Mel Gibb had been in bed for three days and Dalice
has been crook so to be able to run the game out was a bonus.”
“I thought that Kate gave us a little
bit more drive at WA which helped and Dalice’s talk and direction from the back
is always a bonus.”
Cougars captain Leigh Waddington identified
that her side need to put in a stronger effort over four quarters, especially
against sides like Phoenix.
“They can play hard one-on-one [defence]
or they are very good at offline and coming out at the ball but it’s not even
that, they were very accurate tonight, they had Mel Rowland and she doesn’t
miss a goal.”
“It’s tight, but you know what, it makes
it exciting and hopefully it makes the girls want it more for these last two
games. We just need to put in an effort for four quarters, we seem to slump, we
can go with teams for three quarters and then we drift off.
In other results, the ETSA Contax kept
their perfect season thus far intact defeating the Spring Gully Newton Jaguars
56-34. Contours Matrics held off a determined Woods Panthers side but just one
goal in an entertaining match, the final score 41-40.
Quarter-by-quarter
score:
Q1: Phoenix 11 – 9 Cougars
Q2: Phoenix 28 – 26 Cougars
Q3: Phoenix 43 – 36 Cougars
Q4: Phoenix 58 – 43 Cougars
Match
Shooting Stats:
Phoenix 58/70 82.8%
M. Gibb: 27/31
87.1%
M. Rowland: 31/39
79.5
Cougars 43/58 74.1%
J. Roberts: 29/38
76.3%
S. Carver: 3/5
60%
J. Nixon: 11/15
73.3%
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