Results
In front of a very vocal crowd at home the Mission Queensland Firebirds stormed home with their second win in a row against the Canterbury Tactix 64-48.
It was a physical match up from the beginning, but an on form Firebirds quickly took the lead and continued throughout the match.
Shooters Romelda Aiken and Natalie Medhurst worked together flawlessly in the circle delivering goal after goal with percentages in the nineties.
The starting seven were Aiken and Medhurst, Chelsea Pitman (WA), Lauren Nourse (C), Keirra Trompf (WD), Amy Steel (GD) and Laura Geitz (GK) and across the court all seven were working in unison.
By the end of the first half the Firebirds had extended their lead to six, winning 31-25.
Going into the third quarter, coach Roselee Jencke made a few changes bringing on Jacinta Messer to replace Steel, moving Nourse to WA and benching Pitman, bringing Elissa Macleod into Centre.
Messer instantly made her presence felt in the circle against a very physical Ellen Halpenny.
A Tactix time out with eight minutes to go, saw Jencke bring on Shannon Eagland to replace Trompf and by the end of the third quarter, the Firebirds had extended their lead to 10, 49-39.
Moving into the final quarter, Jencke made a couple of changes, bringing Steel back on in GD and moving Pitman back into WA, resting Nourse.
Throughout the quarter, the Firebirds continued their domination of the game delivering the team’s third win of the year 64-48.
Firebird Romelda Aiken said it was a fantastic effort from the team.
“Everything just seemed to work well on court tonight across all thirds,” she said.
“Nat and Loz were getting some really good feeds into me in the circle, while at the other end the defenders were working hard against the Tactix shooters.”
The Mission Queensland Firebirds will hit the road this weekend and will travel to Invercargill to play the Southern Steel on Sunday, May 20.
