By Tara Murray
City West Falcons faced their biggest test of the Victorian Netball League season on Wednesday, just getting across the line.
The Falcons faced the Hawks on Wednesday in a top of the table clash and were pushed for the whole 60 minutes.
The Falcons trailed at half time for the first time this season before leading by two goals at the last break.
Falcons experience shone through late in the game as they were able to secure a 65-59 win.
Lind said a lot of credit had to go to the Hawks. She said they needed a match like that.
“It wasn’t our best game,” she said. “They went very hard and put a lot of pressure on us.
“We definitely did need a game like that. We’ve been getting big score lines and our scoreline was up there, but we probably struggled defensively to turn the ball over.”
Lind said they worked out how to win some ball in the second half, especially winning more turnovers in the last quarter when they were able to get the margin out.
She said they were also able to limit the Hawks shooters volume in the second half.
“Once we came off the body a bit we were better,” Lind said. “We probably needed to turn the ball over a bit higher, which is what we did in the last quarter.
“We were able to shut down every channel and make them go wide and we could have a hunt. We didn’t get that in the first half at all.”
Being down at half time for the first time in a long time, Lind said they didn’t really think about it much and tried to keep it positive and calm.
She said they had their chances earlier in the game to blow the margin out but weren’t able to make the most of it.
“We got out to four or five goals a few times but then we imploded,” she said. “We threw it away.”
Jane Cook shot 61 goals for the Falcons.
Lind said she thought the attack end was OK and they still shot a high number of goals, but had a few moments where they threw wild balls to Cook.
The 23s and under side had a tough night with Lind saying they had a terrible game in the 54-37 loss.
“They were six goals up and reversed it in five minutes,” she said. “They started really well.
“I think they are just young and don’t have that confidence yet that champ has.
“Work in progress there.”
The Falcons are on the road in the next round, travelling across town to face the Wilson Storage Southern Saints next Friday night.
