AFTER not having a game for the last three weeks, the Melbourne Vixens have come back from an eight-goal deficit to secure their second win of the 2021 Suncorp Super Netball (SSN) season, beating the Sunshine Coast Lightning 55-52. The nail-biter saw the eighth-placed Vixens beat the ladder-leaders in Lightning after a week of controversy from a missed game against West Coast Fever, and the SSN moving to Melbourne as COVID-19 causes havoc across Australia.  

While Lightning scored the first goal off their own centre pass, the Vixens started strong, getting ahead by three goals early. Vixens goal keeper Emily Mannix was back for her first game since Round 4, and with her partner in crime in Jo Weston out in goal defence, the pair were solid, playing a body on body defence forcing Lightning shooters Steph Wood and Cara Koenen wide from the get go. However, the Vixens’ attack end appeared to be clogged, with Kaylia Stanton and Hannah Mundy struggling to find the space and driving too short. This was also in part due to the work of Karla Pretorius, with a cleverly timed intercept putting her team in front by a goal, before the Vixens evened the scoreline halfway through the first quarter, seven apiece, as Lightning called a time out.

The quick break helped the Lightning to lift, taking the scoreline out to 10-7 by the start of the Power Play. The Vixens had yet to settle into the game by this time, with some uncharacteristic misses from Mwai Kumwenda and their continual struggle to get the ball to the edge of the circle, with Kate Moloney working in overtime in an attempt to get it there. A Super Shot from Stanton helped get the Vixens get back within a goal against a cool and collected Lightning, before the quarter time siren went with the score at 14-12, Lightning’s way.

The start of the second quarter saw the Lightning lift, with an intercept from Phumza Maweni on the Vixens first centre pass giving them the leg up that they needed. With Vixens suddenly finding themselves seven goals down (20-13) a timeout was called just four minutes into the quarter. The Vixens attack was still struggling to get themselves together, with Mahalia Cassidy and Maddy McAuliffe seemingly working out their respective opponents in Mundy and Moloney. The penalties were also racking up for the underdogs, almost doubling Lightning’s penalty count even before half time.

Although still leading 23-17 halfway through the second quarter, the Lightning called a timeout to give themselves time to regroup. Realising their combinations still were not cutting it, the Vixens called their second timeout of the quarter with four and a half minutes to go to make some changes – Moloney into wing attack and Mundy into the centre. As a result, this gave the Vixens their much needed driver to the circle edge in Moloney, as well as a strong lead off the transverse on the centre passes. However, it wasn’t soon enough to get them up in that quarter, finishing the first half with a seven-goal deficit (30-23).

Quarter three was a game changer, with the intensity of the Vixens earning them five quick goals in the first two and a half minutes to get them suddenly back within two goals. They were now well and truly settled into the game, appearing to drive harder and be hungrier for the ball, as well as making smarter decisions by not getting flustered. In an attempt to slow them up, Lightning call a timeout, bringing Peace Proscovia on into goal shooter, moving Koenen into goal attack, Wood in wing attack, and Laura Scherian into centre. Moving Wood out just gave the Lightning that little bit more space to work with in the ring, and allowed them to make full use of Proscovia’s strong hold under the post. 

Despite playing one of her best games of the season so far, a held ball from Stanton and subsequent Lightning goal gave Lightning a leg up that they needed, bringing the scoreline to 39-35 as Super Shots came into play. Needing some fresh legs on the court, the Vixens put Allie Smith into wing defence to slow up Wood on the centre passes, and Kadie-Ann Dehaney into GK in an attempt to combat Proscovia. The hard work down the defence end, particularly from Pretorius, kept Lightning ahead of the game still, despite losing the quarter, with the score at 45-39 heading into the final term.

Lightning come into the final quarter firing, with another Pretorius intercept gifting them the first two goals. But just two minutes in, Maweni called an injury timeout following a collision with Kumwenda, appearing to twist her ankle as the Malawian goaler fell back on her. Kate Shimmin was brought on in her place, and despite this upset, the Lightning were quick to adjust and push themselves back ahead to their half-time lead of seven goals. A Kate Eddy intercept and subsequent Vixens goal caused the Lightning to call another time out with 10 minutes remaining and the score at 48-42.

Moving Wood into goal attack and bringing Binnian Hunt into wing defence, Lightning appeared to be in a good position if they could maintain their momentum and calm nature. But a miss from Koenen gave Vixens the opportunity they needed to get themselves on a roll again. A Mannix intercept and subsequent Kumwenda Super Shot with four and a half minutes to go put the Vixens in a good spot at just three goals down. Stanton then put up another Super Shot – even after an impressive rejection from Shimmin – to get the Vixens back to within one, before an offensive contact from Koenen allowed Kumwenda to even the scoreline with just two minutes to go. With another intercept from Eddy giving the Vixens another scoring opportunity, and a dropped ball from a now flustered Lightning team, the game finished 52 – 55 to the Vixens.

Player of the match went to Stanton, with 64.5 Nissan Net Points (NNP) and 18 goals at 86 percent accuracy, while Wood only missed one goal over the whole game to give her a shooting accuracy of 94 percent. Wood also had the most goal assists of the game with 22 from 27 feeds. Pretorius was a standout for the Lightning, with 69 NNP credit to five gains, three intercepts and six deflections. Mannix was also instrumental in the Vixens win, racking up five gains and four intercepts over her 55 minutes.

SUNSHINE COAST LIGHTNING 14 | 16 | 15 | 7 (52)
MELBOURNE VIXENS 12 | 11 | 16 | 16 (55)

STARTING SEVEN:

Lightning:

GS: Cara Koenen
GA: Steph Wood
WA: Laura Scherian
C: Maddy McAuliffe
WD: Mahalia Cassidy
GD: Karla Pretorius
GK: Phumza Maweni

Vixens:

GS: Mwai Kumwenda
GA: Kaylia Stanton
WA: Hannah Mundy
C: Kate Moloney
WD: Kate Eddy
GD: Jo Weston
GK: Emily Mannix

Picture credit: Jonathan DiMaggio/Getty Images