Led by their inspirational captain, and eventual Player of the Match, Kate Moloney, the Vixens dominated all areas of the court for much of the game, locking up all eight available Premiership Points on their way to the top of the Suncorp Super Netball league ladder.
It was not the result the GIANTS were looking for in their captain Kim Green’s 200th national league game. After finishing as the minor premiers in 2018, they now go into Round 3 looking for their first win of the season.
Kim Green celebrated her 200th gameBoth teams went goal-for-goal early on, but it was the defensive ends that really stood out with Emily Mannix continuing her hot form and Sam Poolman giving the Vixens shooters no room to work with.
GIANTS, and Australian netball, fans will be happy with what they saw from Caitlin Bassett, who’s return from a broken arm seems to be on track. She finished the game with 35 from 39 shooting.
The Vixens took a handy six goal lead into the second quarter, but the GIANTS immediately started eating into the deficit thanks to some stifling defence and brilliant play from their super talented midcourt.
The Melbourne Arena crowd was silenced when GIANTS Netball captain Kim Green went to the rooms with a suspected rib injury. She returned after halftime and played out the rest of the game.
But the Vixens slowed the game down and composed themselves, stretching their lead to nine goals going into the half time break.
The GIANTS came out hard in the second half, dragging the Vixens lead back to just seven. But the experienced shooting combination of Caitlin Thwaites and Tegan Philip proved too much to contain for the GIANTS who trailed by 14-goals at three quarter time.
With the lead in double digits, it was a battle for the final bonus point in the last quarter, a battle which the home team won by two goals.
It was a dominant performance by the Vixens, particularly in defence, where Mannix, Jo Weston and Renae Ingles combined for nine intercepts and eight deflections.
The Vixens will travel to Adelaide to face the improved Thunderbirds next Saturday afternoon while the GIANTS will be searching for their first win of the season against the Magpies at home on Sunday.
Score breakdown
Q1: Vixens 16 v GIANTS 10
Q2: Vixens 14 v GIANTS 11
Q3: Vixens 15 v GIANTS 10
Q4: Vixens 16 v GIANTS 14
Suncorp Super Netball Premiership Points
Vixens – 8
GIANTS – 0
Nissan Player of the Match
Kate Moloney – Melbourne Vixens
Vixens shooting statistics
Caitlin Thwaites: 30/35 (85.7%)
Tegan Philip: 31/38 (81.6%)
GIANTS shooting statistics
Caitlin Bassett: 35/39 (89.7%)
Jo Harten: 10/11 (90.9%)
Vixens starting seven:
GS – Caitlin Thwaites, GA – Tegan Philip, WA – Liz Watson, C – Kate Moloney, WD – Renae Ingles, GD – Jo Weston, GK – Emily Mannix
GIANTS starting seven:
GS – Caitlin Bassett, GA – Jo Harten, WA – Kim Green, C – Amy Parmenter, WD – Jamie-Lee Price, GD – Kristiana Manu’a, GK – Sam Poolman
VIEW MATCH CENTRE
