Tara Murray
The City West Falcons continued on their winning ways with a big win against the Casey Demons in the Victorian Netball League championship on Wednesday night.
The Falcons piled on the goals early on and were able to continue that throughout the high scoring affair.
With the game in control at half time, the Falcons rotated their players to continue to try different combinations.
While the Demons won the final quarter, the match was well and truly over, with the Falcons winning 87-68.
Falcons coach Marg Lind was pretty happy with the performance.
“We got 25 goals in the first quarter and I think that is what set it up,” she said. “I sent a message out today [Wednesday] and it was that we’ve got to get off to a good start.
“I don’t think we could ask too much more and they’re always going to score a bit within the Emma Ryde-Coad.
“So you’re going to have to anticipate they’re going to get a high score. she’s hard to beat.”
Lind said the good start had allowed them to rotate players a bit and get players some court time.
Chelsea Imansani played big minutes at wing attack, while Jenna Ogier played her most minutes this season at goal attack.
Jane Cook finished with a massive 71 goals for the game and played a strong game in goal shooter.
Lind was happy with what she saw from Soli Ropati when she moved into wing attack in the second half.
The Falcons have one injury concern out to come out of the match, with skipper Maggie Lind coming off in the first quarter.
Marg Lind said her daughter had a tight calf and wasn’t feeling fantastic, so they made the call not to risk her after such a great start.
“She called it,” Lind said. “It was good to give Chelsea a run there and I think they did OK.”
The Falcons are also preparing for Shimona Jok not to be playing much with them.
Jok was called into the Mavericks match day 10 for their Suncorp Super Netball clash against the West Coast Fever and did a really good job. She wasn’t with the Falcons against the Demons.
The Falcons move up to second on the ladder with the North East Blaze having a loss.
The under-23s returned to the winners list after two straight losses, beating the Demons, 50-39.
The Falcons led in the first half before the Demons took the front late in the contest.
It was the Falcons that settled late in the scrappy game to win, 50-39.
Lind said they were starting to find the right combinations in the end.
“Holly [Adams-Alcock] and Lani [Fauonuku] in goals looked pretty good,” she said. “I thought they were going to do that at half time and they didn’t and I was like come on,
“They’ve probably played top four teams the last couple of weeks. They couldn’t drop this one tonight, as they probably shouldn’t have dropped Peninsula.
“There’s a bit of potential there.”
The Falcons face the Wilson Storage Southern Saints this week in what Lind said would be another good test.
