OPENING up Wednesday night’s Suncorp Super Netball proceedings was a huge matchup between Adelaide Thunderbirds and Sunshine Coast Lightning. The Thunderbirds were hoping to close the gap on the ladder with a win, but the Lightning’s continuous intensity paid off for a six-goal 56-50 win, to stay in touch with the Vixens and Swifts at the top of the table.

It was a classy start from the experienced Lightning against a relatively young Thunderbirds outfit, but the two sides were unable to be split early despite some great defensive efforts. Defensively, the two sides were strong to start and their respective offensive lines were tentative and patient working into the goal circle. It seemed Shamera Sterling had learned her lesson against Cara Koenen this time around, with the Jamaican goal keeper blocking the backspace and ease on the goalline drive, though Karla Pretorius was also out flying with a few tips early and exploiting the inexperience of her direct opposition in Georgie Horjus. All four goalers had an accurate start, with the 100 per cent shooting from Horjus and Lenize Potgieter seeing the Thunderbirds remain in the race despite the Lightning having a couple more scoring shots thanks to the clean movement of Steph Wood and Koenen.

An interesting battle was forged through the midcourt between Hannah Petty and Laura Langman, with neither player willing to give an inch, with a huge one-on-one on the wing in Laura Scherian and Maisie Nankivell seeing no easy ball into the goal circle. Wood was the first to put a super shot on the board to extend a short lead, although the Thunderbirds would not back away. The Lightning’s midcourt defence was huge, limiting drives up the court and forcing chipping from the Thunderbirds, and seeing the Sunshine Coast leading by two at the first change.

A centre pass to the Thunderbirds saw the side narrow the scoreline to one as the second quarter began, but excellent patience saw a tough battle as both teams capitalised off their own before a sloppy patch of Lightning play saw the Thunderbirds even up the ledger. Koenen headed to the bench for Peace Proscovia following a tactical timeout, with the tall timber adding a new layer to attack but not as quick as Koenen, allowing Sterling to cherry pick a ball over the top to block her first possession. 

Wood’s speed was a shining light out the front, finding some easy ball as Guscoth fell back to defend Proscovia in the two on one, but despite the defensive pressure the Lightning were able to add another few goals to their tally as the Thunderbirds seemed to lack some connection in attack. The changes were made ahead of the second super shot period, with Sasha Glasgow coming into goal attack to add a bit more height while the Lightning were willing to chip away with the regular goals with both Koenen and Proscovia in the goal circle. 

Some better patches of play allowed the Lightning to maintain goal lead, while Shadine van der Merwe entered the fray to shut down Scherian’s drives and forced some iffy feeds into the circle with her hands over pressure. Pretorius was still in everything, stepping up to the plate again and again and ultimately putting out her best performance of the season so far to block a couple impressive attacking efforts as the Lightning came away with a five goal half time lead. 

A huge second half opened up with a great start from the Lightning, putting four goals nil on the board thanks to efforts from Pretorius and Langman, although hesitance feeding over Sterling put the side through their paces, unable to find an easy avenue to post. Despite constant defensive pressure paying off in patches for the Thunderbirds, the attack unit just could not fire and saw coach Tania Obst call a tactical timeout. The timeout seemed to do the trick, seeing the Thunderbirds add a few more to their tally but still trailing the Lightning by seven goals. Suddenly within four, the momentum had not completely swayed the way of the Thunderbirds but they certainly seemed to be brimming with confidence. But the class of Langman and Pretorius at either end of the court continued to control the play, with fumbles from both sides but the Lightning still seeming to dominate much of the contest racking up the loose ball.

A stagnant-looking attack saw the Thunderbirds give up a few of their centre passes, with Pretorius blocking Horjus’ every move and Phumza Maweni sticking to Potgieter to negate her ability to find the post. The combination of Koenen and Wood paid off as the super shot period began, while defensively the Lightning had front position every time, continuing to find answers for every attacking play set by the Thunderbirds and seeing the same scoreline remain heading into the final change.

The last quarter saw the Thunderbirds have another good start, speeding out to a 3-1 lead to pull back to just a three goal margin. But sure enough the Lightning stepped up once more, winning off a Chelsea Pitman error, and the cross court ball not paying off with Pretorius and Maweni both tracking so well. The long bombs continued to fall for both teams making for an interesting quarter given the super shot period was yet to begin, with improved accuracy after a low-scoring third term.

With an eight-goal lead the way of the Lightning, Thunderbirds called one last tactical timeout with just over five minutes on the clock and not entirely out of the contest despite the scoreline, although certainly needing to step up. Sterling went down in the back of play and had to be assisted off the court, rolling her ankle over Koenen’s foot almost immediately as play resumed. While the Sterling blow was huge, it did not stop the Thunderbirds from attempting a late surge with four of their last five goals super shots, but in the end the Lightning had just been far too in control throughout the match, coming away with a six goal win (56-50). 

When it came to the stats sheet, player of the match Pretorius could not be beaten with four intercepts while Sterling was impressive as ever with nine gains (five intercepts). The midcourt attack saw a heap of action with Langman and Scherian effectively leading the way out the front with 20 and 16 assists respectively, while it was much the same for the Thunderbirds as Pitman (16) led the charge, aided by Petty who finished with 10 from 35 minutes on court. In the goal circle, Potgieter topscored with 27 goals from 29 attempts including two super shots, while Koenen was next in line with 23, followed by Horjus and Wood (17 apiece) and Proscovia on 15 at 100 per cent efficiency.

>>>THUNDERBIRDS TEAM PAGE
>>>LIGHTNING TEAM PAGE
>>>FULL MATCH STATS

—

ADELAIDE THUNDERBIRDS 13 | 11 | 9 | 17 (50)
SUNSHINE COAST LIGHTNING 15 | 14 | 9 | 18 (56)

Thunderbirds

GS: Lenize Potgieter
GA: Georgie Horjus
WA: Chelsea Pitman
C: Hannah Petty
WD: Maisie Nankivell
GD: Layla Guscoth
GK: Shamera Sterling

Lightning

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