By Tara Murray
The Western Warriors have responded after a tough start to the Victorian Netball League season, getting their first win on the board on Wednesday night.
The Warriors had been inconsistent in the first four rounds with a couple of disappointing results in there.
After a couple of tough weeks on the training court, the Warriors showed positive signs as they beat the Melbourne University Lightning, 58-48.
Warriors coach Kim Bailey was relieved to see her team come away with the points.
“It’s a weight off my shoulders to be honest,” she said. “The girls were on a mission.
“We knew we hadn’t been playing to our full ability, so we really made a conscious effort to go out and give it 110 per cent and just play with tenacity and just take on the leads and take on the drives.
“I was really happy with it.”
Bailey said the start was something that they had focused on in the lead up to the game. She said it was something the group had said they wanted to improve on.
After leading by four goals early, they were always in front. The Lightning got it back to one goal on a few occasions.
“We know and it happened in the last quarter at the start, we have peaks and troughs a little bit,” Bailey said.
“We’ve got to make sure that when we have a drop, we continue on and recover from that and that is what we did.”
The Warriors put the foot down in the final minutes to blow out the margin to seal the win, which Bailey said had been a reflection of their training earlier in the week.
The Warriors had the legs late in the final quarter led by Ruby Shannon, who played all four quarters, including three at centre.
Shannon got better as the game went on.
‘She’s a running machine and just goes and goes and is just fearless,” Bailey said. “We changed our line a little bit, we brought Simona Di Filippo on more this game.
“She played exceptionally well with that speed and Sarah Croft as well.”
Bailey said they rested Tayla Honey, who only played one quarter, which made the win even more impressive.
Kim Borger returned to the line up after missing a couple of weeks with a calf injury.
Bailey said she was fantastic out there. She scored 32 goals with two misses.
“We ran her out at goal attack for a little bit and those fast feet,” Bailey said. “We’ve been really concentrating on change of direction and fast feet.
“I don’t expect that from Kim and she’s a veteran player, but OMG she’s good.”
Bailey said every player impacted when they came on the court.
Poppy Douglass played her best game of the season, while Molly Kennedy continues to be a workhorse in defence.
The Warriors 23 and under side lost to the Lightning, 56-45. Bailey said they were still finding their feet at this level.
Grace Hay was the standout for the Warriors in that performance.
The Warriors face the Gippsland Stars next week.
