By Chloe Pilkington
The Melbourne Vixens have overcome the Sunshine Coast Lightning after a critical second half performance, taking the Round 4 win at John Cain Arena.
With both teams starting strong, the Vixens and Lightning were goal-for-goal early in the first quarter of their match.
Young gun Hannah Mundy was called up to WA in Vixens’ starting 7 and impressed early with her quick closing speed to feed from circle edge. But strong pressure from Lightning’s defensive duo Pretorius and Dehaney forced errors amongst the Vixens’ attack end.
Wood and Koenen’s shooter-to-shooter connection shined, with Wood finding Koenen easy on the baseline and finished the match with an impressive 28 goal assists to her name.
Lightning coach Belinda Reynolds called a tactical time out after Wood missed the first Super Shot of the game, but Kiera Austin was also unable to score her first Super Shot, as Dehaney picked up the rebound and was rewarded with a goal down the other end by Koenen.
Lightning finished quarter time leading by 2 (15-17) but Vixens secured the first goal of the second quarter off Lightning’s centre pass.
Vixens’ defensive end struggled to slow the connection between Lightning’s confident attack end, with Koenen impressing early with strong hands to the ball.
A tactical time out was called by Simone McKinnis as the Vixens trailed by 3. Olivia Lewis was brought onto the court as GK and made an instant impact, forcing a change of flow for the Lightning attack end.
After trailing by 5, the Vixens were able to score two crucial Super Shots off the hands of both Austin and Kumwenda, bringing the score to 31-33 at half time.
Lightning’s WD Mahalia Cassidy put her body on the line early in the third quarter and was forced to come off court to be assessed as Shannon Eagland was brought on as replacement.
Going goal-for-goal in the first five minutes of the third quarter, the defensive hands of Austin gained a crucial intercept and rewarded herself with a goal.
Lightning led by 2 going into the third Power 5 of the match but after a stellar steal from WD Kate Eddy, the Vixens were able to pull themselves back to a 1 goal difference. With the next centre pass, Austin was able to level the game (44-44) with 2 minutes of the third quarter to go.
The Vixens led for the first time of the match and finished the third quarter with a 2-goal buffer against the Lightning (47-45).
Vixens’ attack line showed confidence early, going up by 4 in the fourth quarter and taking the pace out of Lightning’s attack end. Wood was forced to take long shots outside of the Power Five as Mannix shut down Koenen on the baseline.
Another tactical time out was called by Belinda Reynolds as Lightning trailed by 5 (55-50) and Wood was pressured to shoot the game out during the last Power Five.
Jo Weston impressed in the final moments of the match, finishing with 3 intercepts and 5 deflections to her name.
With Vixens up by 8 and only 3 minutes left of the final quarter, Wood was able to sink a crucial Super Shot bringing the score to 58-52.
But a patient and controlled Vixens’ attack line were able to keep possession and finish the game with a 4-goal lead (60-56) in front of their home crowd at John Cain Arena.
