THE Adelaide Thunderbirds took care of a understrength GIANTS Netball side, winning by 13 goals in yesterday’s Suncorp Super Netball (SSN) contest.

It was always going to be a tough task for the GIANTS who were severely undermanned, but they did match it with the Thunderbirds for much of the match.

Despite the relative experience of both sides, it was tight for much of the match, before things really opened up in the last term.

It was actually the GIANTS who got their first goal through skipper Jo Harten, and the GIANTS skipped out to a bit of an early lead before the Thunderbirds reeled then in. Both sides had the lead at various moments in the quarter, but thanks to a Matisse Letherbarrow long bomb late ensured it was the girls in orange that held a two goal first change lead.

It was a seesawing affair in the second term. The Thunderbirds lead by as much as four goals early, but then the GIANTS reeled them back in. Then the GIANTS got a bit of a lead then were reeled back in by the Thunderbirds. In the end as the main break siren went, the margin was dead even.

Things were again tight for much of the third term, but just as the quarter was starting to draw towards it’s back end, the Thunderbirds started to shoot clear and just as the Power Five time started the Thunderbirds had a lead of four.

It took until about four and a half minutes to go in the third term, but finally the GIANTS brought on the much talked about temporary new recruit Chelsea Pitman into that wing attack role. Unfortunately her leadership and experience that she brought out onto the court did not help turn things around, and after a late long bomb from Harten the margin at the final break was six goals.

Things started to fall apart for the GIANTS in the last term. As much as those like Harten were trying to keep their side in the match, the Thunderbirds were just too strong and ultimately came away with the win. One thing that let the GIANTS down was their shooting accuracy.

As much as Harten tried to keep her side in the match all afternoon, she still missed 11 shots, while Letherbarrow missed eight shots as well. That was in stark contrast to the Thunderbirds, who missed ten shots between the three shooters combined. This meant that the final goal shooting percentage was 89 per cent to the Thunderbirds, and only 71 per cent to the GIANTS. The percentages were more even when it came to the Super Shots however.

The GIANTS actually had a better super shot percentage then the Thunderbirds, but not by much (45 per cent to 43 per cent). However the GIANTS did have vastly more super shot attempts than their opposition (20 compared to nine). All this was happening all the while both sides had 50 per cent of the possession.

Next week the Thunderbirds are at home again, hosting the Lightning on Sunday afternoon. The GIANTS however are on the road again, travelling down the Hume to face the Vixens in Melbourne.

ADELAIDE THUNDERBIRDS 13 | 12 | 15 | 16 (56)
GIANTS NETBALL 15 | 10 | 9 | 9 (43)

STARTING SEVENS:

Adelaide Thunderbirds:

GK: Shamera Sterling
GD: Matilda Garrett
WD: Hannah Petty
C: Maisie Nankivell
WA: Georgie Horjus
GA: Tippah Dwan
GS: Lenize Potgieter

GIANTS Netball:

GK: Tilly McDonnell
GD: April Brandley
WD: Lauren Moore
C: Amy Sligar
WA: Maddie Hay
GA: Jo Harten
GS: Matisse Letherbarrow