THE North East Blaze were one of a few Victorian Netball League sides to pick up a big win in Round 3, downing the Western Warriors 74-54.

The Blaze were quick to get out to a lead, making the most of an attacking contact call that went in their favour. This sparked a run for the Blaze, who looked a step above the Warriors and generating defensive turnovers that the opposition were unable to do.

Sam Silvester was having a particularly strong start to the game, proving to be a solid target under the post for the Blaze, really rewarding the efforts of the likes of Ty Coppinger up the other end.

Julia Woolley and Kim Borger were shooting very accurately for the Warriors, but it was just the little things further up the court bringing the Warriors undone.

This saw the Blaze take a seven goal lead into the first change.

That first quarter ultimately provided the Blaze a springboard for the rest of the game to see them accelerate even further. They even changed their goal shooter – bringing on South African Rolene Streutker for Silvester for a half – but that did not affect their momentum.

That lead really grew in the second term, getting out to 10 by the time half time came, and continued to grow as the game continued.

One area that the Warriors really struggled in the whole game was the defensive turnovers. The Blaze were able to pick up a lot more turnovers in their defensive third and were able to capitalise them up the other end, which is just not something the Waves were often able to do.

In other results, the City West Falcons and Southern Saints were also big winners, while the Boroondara Express and Geelong Cougars had to work hard for their wins.

VNL Championship Round 3 Results

Boroondara Express (63) defeated Casey Demons (57)

Southern Saints (64) defeated Peninsula Waves (43)

Geelong Cougars (49) defeated Melbourne University Lightning (41)

North East Blaze (74) defeated Western Warriors (54)

City West Falcons (70) defeated Bendigo Strikers (52)

Bye – Hawks Netball