Swifts hold off Vixens

Monday, May 28, 2012

Match Statistics

The NSW Swifts have secured a sixth straight win after holding off the Melbourne Vixens 49-43 at Hisense Arena on Sunday in round nine of the ANZ Championship.

The win also returned the Sargeant-McKinnis Cup to NSW for the fourth time in five ANZ Championship seasons - read the full story.

Swifts midcourter Vanessa Ware, who celebrated her 50th ANZ Championship cap in the match, was happy the team has been able to build into the season following two losses in the opening rounds.

"It's amazing. We did not have a good start to the season but now we are building and we are getting that consistency and it is feeling good in the camp," Ware told Channel Ten.

Both teams committed turnovers as they settled into the game but it was a much stronger start by the Swifts than their previous matchup with the Vixens, break leading by two at the first break, 13-11.

The Vixens brought on Karyn Howarth at GA to pair up with Kate Beveridge as two tall shooters in the second quarter and the change appeared to pay dividends as the Vixens levelled at 16-16 five minutes into term. The Swifts responded with five unanswered goals but following an injury timeout to the Vixens, the Melbourne team rallied to level the scores once again just before halftime, 24-24.

Although the Vixens opened the scoring in the third quarter the Swifts quickly rattled off another five unanswered goals. But, the Vixens defence stepped up in the final minutes of the quarter as they started to pick up crucial intercepts to get their team back within four goals at the final break, 35-31.

In a frantic final quarter the Swifts were able to hold off the Vixens chargeto seal the six-goal win49 – 43.

The Swifts head to Brisbane for round 10 when they face the Queensland Firebirds at 12.10pm on Sunday 3 June.
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Starting Lineups:
         NSW Swifts           Melbourne Vixens
GS   Susan Pratley     Kate Beveridge
GA   Amorette Wild    Tegan Caldwell
WA  Vanessa Ware    Madison Browne
C    Kimberlee Green Chelsea Tregear
WD Samantha May    Geva Mentor
GD  Mo'onia Gerrard   Julie Corletto
GK  Sonia Mkoloma   Bianca Chatfield

Changes:
NSW Swifts:
3Q: Carla Dziwoki (GA)
3Q timeout: Paige Hadley (C)
4Q: Wild (GA), Hadley (WA), Ware (C)

Melbourne Vixens:
2Q: Karyn Howarth (GA)
2Q timeout: Chatfield (WD), Mentor (GK)
3Q timeout 2: Caldwell (GA), Tregear (WA), Browne (C)

* The Sargeant McKinnis Cup is named after two of netball’s most accomplished players: NSW’s Anne Sargeant OAM and Victoria’s Simone McKinnis OAM. The winner of the cup is decided based on the results of the two home and away matches played between the NSW Swifts and Melbourne Vixens. The NSW Swifts are the current holders of the trophy