The flame coloured grapevines behind the netball courts at Red Cliffs gave the perfect backdrop to the competitive encounter between the Tigers and Demons at Quondong Park on Saturday.
Before round 11 there were only two points between the teams on the SFNL A Grade ladder with the Demons in second place and Red Cliffs fourth.
The first quarter reflected that closeness with both teams going goal for goal.
Red Cliffs’ Zara Copley was accurate at shooter and Ash Morello for the Demons responded with majors for Mildura.
Tigers’ defenders Morna Naquto and Yelena Richardson had their hands full with the Demons’ height in attack however both teams scored freely, ending the first quarter at sixteen goals each.
The start of the second was just as frenetic and free scoring as the first.
Demezla Henry in wing attack for the Demons was handy in the centre with her accurate passing into goal, with Zadow capitalising most of the time.
Mildura’s defence was also tight with Milan Forbes covering the Tigers goal attack Jazmin Parker.
The Demons had a slight lead of three goals at half time.
Parker scored the first major of the second half with Jacqulyn Bell supporting well in centre.
Zadow dominated the quarter with her height and accuracy in the goal circle, and while Naquto is strong, agile and has a booming pass into attack, she couldn’t contain the Tigers goaler.
Richardson got a few great rebounds in defence for the Tigers but at three quarter time they were still down by three majors.
Mildura supporters always come out in force and the last quarter gave them reason to celebrate.
While Mildura’s centre Molly McDonald came off with an injury, Tigers goal attack Parker stepped up against Milan Forbes and tried to give Red Cliffs a fighting chance at winning the game.
Despite that the Demons came out on top by four goals with a final score of 54 to 58.
Red Cliffs coach Romany Bowen is always vocal and supportive of her team when she is on the sidelines.
“I think it was a good game, we just threw the ball away too much and they didn’t,” she said. “We had to make some quick changes in the last quarter and they got out to seven points but we pegged it back to four.
“They got too many second chances at goal and were too quick on the passes.
“We were probably short in terms of defence and we were dealing with two tall basketballers (Morello and Zadow) but we were really excited leading into this week and we thought it would be a good contest, which it was.”
Final Score
| Mildura | 58 |
| Red Cliffs | 54 |
