By Tara Murray
Western Warriors didn’t come away with the points on Sunday but it was a much better performance in the Victorian Netball League.
After a disappointing round one loss to the City West Falcons, the Warriors were home at Cobblebank Stadium against the Bendigo Strikers.
In front of a big home crowd, the Warriors lost 65-50.
Warriors coach Kim Bailey said they would take a lot of positives out of that match.
“It was a much better performance,” she said. “We got it back to five goals in the second half before they blew us out.
“We struggled to negate Gabe Richards who is just so tall. It was much improved on last week.”
The Warriors had the margin within 10 goals at each of the first three quarters, but a 17-10 final quarter put paid to their hopes of getting a come from behind win.
Bec Hicks shot 38 goals for the Warriors, having to take on a bigger role with Kim Borger missing. Borger will be back for round three.
Bailey said Hicks was outstanding in her second VNL game and forced the Strikers to move Zoe Davies back on to her.
“She should be proud of herself,” Bailey said. “She did some good things out there.
“We’ve still got some new combos and still finding out how we work.”
Abbey Ellis took to the court for the first time this season after returning from playing in the WNBL with the Townsville Fire and will only get better.
Bailey said Molly Kennedy really stepped up at goal defence having only just joined the team before round one.
The Warriors under-23s also suffered a loss, losing 57-40.
The Strikers led at every break and were able to extend the lead in every quarter.
Bailey said they were struggling a little bit to come together.
“We’re still finding out some fresh combinations,” she said. “We had a couple debut yesterday [Sunday].
“We’ll keep building. It’s a bit slower start than maybe we were hoping for. It will come over time.”
Bailey said they loved playing in front of their home crowd in Melton, where they had plenty of support.
“It’s such a nice venue,” she said. “We want to give back to the community.
“It’s good for the mums and dads to see their kids play in a community environment and it shows you can have elite sport in Melton.”
The Warriors are back in action on Wednesday against the North East Blaze.
