Malawi Netball Queens\u2019 shooter, Mwawi Kumwenda, top-scored on her debut for her new Australian club, The Melbourne Vixens, at Hisense Arena.<\/p>\n
Kumwenda posted a 96 percent conversion rate as Vixens claimed a hard-fought win over premiership favourites, Magpies Netball, in Round One of the Suncorp Super Netball on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The Vixens, in front of a crowd of 8,074, claimed the scalp, winning the first of the cross-town battles 58-55.<\/p>\n
Vixens Head Coach Simone McKinnis told Vixens\u2019 website that she was proud of her team\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was very impressed by the way they remained quite composed and were able to play it out against experienced opposition like that,\u201d McKinnis said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe girls themselves were saying that they felt really connected out there on court and that\u2019s been something that we have really been working on.\u201d<\/p>\n
McKinnis said she was aware of the amount of attention the Magpies\u2019 star-studded line-up was attracting, but was confident in her players.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were very aware that it\u2019s what happens out on court, and that\u2019s what we spoke about before the game today; all that matters is what happens out on court.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was nothing separating the two teams throughout the game, with the lead switching continuously between the Vixens and the Magpies in a physical match.<\/p>\n
It was a tough and tight first quarter, with the Vixens seeming to have settled quickest, leading 2-0 early. However, a quick four-goal flurry from the Magpies gave them a handy lead during the second.<\/p>\n
Defensive duo Jo Weston and Emily Mannix were working overtime against the Magpies all-star line, and came away with some impressive spoils.<\/p>\n
At the other end of the court, the newly formed attacking line of Kumwenda and Tegan Philip were gelling well, with the scoring spread evenly between the two.<\/p>\n
McKinnis said she was impressed with the way the two were combining.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love it, I love that there is a bit of dare and flair and taking risks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Magpies shooter Caitlin Thwaites dominated, scoring 24 of her teams 27 goals to half-time. However a purple-patch from her opponent Mannix just before halftime brought the Vixens back into the match.<\/p>\n
At the end of the first half, the two teams were still deadlocked, with the Vixens trailing by just one goal at the main break.<\/p>\n
The Magpies again ran-away in a rush early in the third period, quickly getting back out to a four-goal lead.<\/p>\n
Great defensive work from Weston and Chloe Watson brought the Vixens back into the game, with the score 42-39 at the three-quarter-time, this time, with the Vixens in the lead.<\/p>\n
The first part of the final quarter saw the Vixens dominate, as the side stormed out to a six-goal lead.<\/p>\n
The Magpies were not finished yet, with a final effort bringing the margin back to just one-goal difference with a minute left to play.<\/p>\n
A costly turnover by the Magpies in the final minute of play saw the Vixens retain possession, and finish strongly to win by three, 58- 55.<\/p>\n
Tegan Philip was named Player of the Match, finishing with 29 goals, whilst Jo Weston was a stand-out in defence, with four deflections and two intercepts\u2014The Daily Times\/ melbournevixens.com.au <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Malawi Netball Queens\u2019 shooter, Mwawi Kumwenda, top-scored on her debut for her new Australian club, The Melbourne Vixens, at Hisense Arena. Kumwenda posted a 96 percent conversion rate as Vixens claimed a hard-fought win over premiership favourites, Magpies Netball, in Round One of the Suncorp Super Netball on Saturday. The Vixens, in front of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":41013,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41012"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41014,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41012\/revisions\/41014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}