CASEY Demons have stormed away from a second term North East Blaze challenge to secure a huge 21-goal win at Casey Stadium last night. The Victorian Netball League (VNL) Round 5 clash saw the Blaze without their twin tower bookends in Nyah Allen and Sienna Allen who had stepped up to the Suncorp Super Netball (SSN). Though the Blaze drew level midway through the second term, the Demons got back on top and never looked back, to run out 62-41 winners.

CASEY DEMONS 14 | 14 |20 | 14 (62)
NORTH EAST BLAZE 7 | 14 | 10 | 10 (41)

Whilst the Blaze were down the Allen sisters, they still had reliable, in-form shooter Georgia Moody at goal attack, and Meg Williams at wing attack. With captain Tayissa Coppinger at wing defence and Kaitlyn Black at goal keeper, there was enough talent on the court to push the Demons, but Black was forced to play on the far taller Emma Ryde, whilst Williams had to face off against Sharni Lambden in a tiring match.

The first term went the way of the Demons after an even start, with Ryde scoring six of the last seven goals of the term to go from 7-6 up to 14-7, and the home team grabbed an early seven-goal lead. Stephanie McNay was doing well on Blaze shooter Sarah Hogan, with Moody scoring five of her side’s seven goals in the term. Georgia Vines – who had spent the first term in goal defence, earned a rest and then went onto Abigail Gedge who had replace Hogan at goal shooter.

The change worked early for the Blaze, as they piled on 10 of the first 13 goals to draw level with the Demons and then force a turnover to hit the front for the first time since early in the opening term. From that 17-17 scoreline though, the Demons – through a a combination of Ryde and Sinead Lumsden who had come on at goal attack – scored the next six goals, and by the time the half-time buzzer sounded, the margin was as it had been at quarter time, seven goals. Olivia Machente had been brilliant through wing attack, feeing the ball to perfection, and did so across all four quarters.

Williams and Blaze centre Chloe Lambert had done so well to chew into the margin, but eventually Lambert came off for a rest, and the switch of Chaise Vasallo into centre for the Demons, got the home side back on top. Though they might have cut the deficit back to six goals at times, the Blaze could never do any sustained damage from that point on, and the Demons piled on 34 goals to 20 in the second half.

Lambden was outstanding alongside Vines, McNay and Shannon Freeman – who came on midway through the second term to arrest the deficit – as the trio disrupted the Blaze attack and made the visitors earn every shot. Black and Ruby Turner played very well considering the amount of ball getting through to Ryde and Lumsden at the other end, and even Ryde swayed from her normal accurate routine.

Though a consolation prize, Black and Turner managed to limit Ryde to 13 goals from 18 attempts, with the Blaze goalers of Moody – who rolled into goal shooter for the final term – and Hogan who returned for the final term shooting at higher clips, but having less opportunities. The third quarter in particular saw the Demons have 22 shots – scoring 20 of them – compared to 10 goals from 13 attempts for the Blaze.

In other results, Melbourne University Lightning ended the run of the undefeated Geelong Cougars in a huge win by seven goals, as Boroondara Express got off the bottom of the ladder with a comprehensive 26-goal victory over Ariels for the Express’ first victory of the season. Meanwhile Southern Saints defeated Hawks Netball by six goals in a thriller, and City West Falcons got the job done against Peninsula Waves by nine goals.

VICTORIAN NETBALL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 5 RESULTS:

City West Falcons (58) defeated Peninsula Waves (49)
Casey Demons (62) defeated North East Blaze (41)
Boroondara Express (70) defeated Ariels (44)
Melbourne University Lightning (47) defeated Geelong Cougars (40)
Southern Saints (50) defeated Hawks Netball (44)