A STINT up forward against Wentworth last round didn’t seem to pay major dividends at the time for Mildura co-coach Ava Zadow as her side was soundly trounced by the A Grade front-runners at George Gordon Oval courts a week ago.
But the Demons reaped the rewards of that experiment on Saturday when they dished out a 37-point thumping to co-tenants Imperials at the Brian Weightman Oval courts.
At the fore was star defender Zadow, who filled in for co-coach Jessica McNamara at shooter and nailed a cool 41 goal in the 68-31 romp.
“I think I have a different style of play to Jess and Ash (Morello),” Zadow said after her shooting spree.
“You need to have someone standing and someone moving and that’s what Ash and I can provide and we did that today,” she said of her synchronicity with fellow forward and also Mildura Heat teammate.
It was always going to be interesting to see what the Demons would take from that previous week’s 27-point humbling by the Roos.
The answer seemed to be to jump on top of the opponent early and don’t let up as the Dees were up 22-4 at the first break and barely relented the rest of the day.
“We just need to come out hard like that in other games,” Zadow said.“I thought last week we let them (Wentworth) jump the gun a bit and today we did that and set the pace.
“We got into a bit of a groove and kept it up … we all knew what we had to do today, and it was just a matter of getting it done and I am very proud of the girls because they did that.”
Zadow was best on court and Sharon Watson a rock in defence, but the coach singled out her replacement down back for special praise.
“I though Katelyn Challis did a tremendous job coming in and going from wing defence to GD,” Zadow said.
“She hadn’t played there for a while … she was getting touches everywhere and reading the ball so beautifully.
“But today was an all-round effort and everyone gave 100 per cent and when they needed rests we had those rotations there.”
Imps coach Ali Walker conceded Mildura’s fast start and Zadow’s excellence near the net were simply too much for her improving side to handle.
“That was sure their day today, they had us from the get-go,” Walker said.
“They were quick, they front cut us well, they shot well, they did everything on the court really well and we were on the back foot from the start.
“We just tried to leave that first quarter behind us and focus on the second and see how we can close that gap a little bit … if they did it to us so we should be able to do it to them, but it was a hard day at the office.
“She’s (Zadow) just a beautiful player. She could play anywhere on the court and do well.”
Now, the green team has to regroup after having some weaknesses exposed.
“We have to be harder at it,” Walker said. “We’ve got to be driving harder at every ball and keeping possession of it.
“Keep working the ball into shooting range so we are hitting every shot.”
On a tough day to find winners on the court, the coach named centre Tracey Sherlock and defender Kia Scott as her side’s better performers.
“Tracey is consistent up and down through that centre,” she said. “I think Kia’s talk in the backline was important and she’s really been playing good defence this season.”
