CITY West Falcons continue their dominance in the Victorian Netball League with a touch-and-go win over the Peninsula Waves by 16 goals.

The Falcons now sit pretty first on the ladder whilst on their 13-game winning streak, most of which by significant margins.

Last time these teams met was in Round 3, with the Falcons coming out 42-goal victors, so there has been huge improvement from the Waves whilst falling short 60-76, who feature at the other end of the ladder.

A scrappy start for both sides just went on to show how much pressure everyone on the court was putting on in defence. It was goal-for-goal in the first term with both sides sighting their respective shooters with ease.

Olivia Wilkinson (44 goals) getting the start out the back for the Waves gave her the chance to work on her shooting volume and accuracy rather than the court craft out the front. This paid off with her shooting at 84 percent while the mobile shooting circle with Jessica Tetley (15) worked well in confusing the defenders on who would shoot from where and what move they were going to make.

It was a surprisingly close first half with the Waves slotting 15 goals at home compared to the Falcons’ 16, who normally start a game with a bang.

In the third term, the Falcons stepped up to the challenge and became the familiar Falcons everyone knows. They were finding a lot more flow in attack with Maggie Lind finding the confidence to feed the ball into tall timber Jane Cook (57) from the transverse line. The feeds were high enough that 201cm standing Cook could get two hands to the ball while the defenders could not get the elevation.

Zoe Davies also came alight this term by getting around the body and getting deflections here and there to put some doubt into the Waves feeders minds.

The Falcons put their foot down and extended their six-goal half time lead to 13 goals heading into the final break. 

There were moments of brilliance from the Waves in attack and defence keeping the margin to only 16 goals in the end, but the pure experience of the Falcons players came in handy with them knowing how to put the foot on the throttle and run the game out of the Waves clasps.

The Falcons will go on to face the North East Blaze next week in Altona who have had an up-and-down season and are wanting to maintain their fourth position. In contrast, the Melbourne University Lightning are wanting to move up from fifth into the four and have finally found their form overcoming some of the top sides as they face the Waves.

VICTORIAN NETBALL LEAGUE ROUND 14 RESULTS – CHAMPIONSHIP

North East Blaze (48) defeated by Melbourne University Lightning (50)

Boroondara Express (61) defeated Hawks Netball (52)

Geelong Cougars (55) defeated Ariels (41)

Wilson Storage Southern Saints (69) defeated by Casey Demons (75)

Peninsula Waves (60) defeated by City West Falcons (76)