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Romelda Aiken nails 48 goals in Firebirds' win

Tracey Lewis new author
3rd May, 2008
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Tracey Lewis new author
Roar Rookie
3rd May, 2008
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1032 Reads

Firebirds shooter Romelda Aiken sank 48 goals in her team’s 65-46 win over the West Coast Fever in netball’s trans-Tasman competition at Challenge Stadium in Perth yesterday.

Aiken and shooting partner Janelle Lawson were inspirational in the 19-goal win, combining to set a new championship goal record and fourth win of the season.

For the Fever, Caitlin Bassett dominated with 39 goals.

Tight one-on-one goal circle contests from Firebird defenders Peta Stephens and Laura Geitz made life difficult for Fever’s Nikala Smith (4) and Bianca Franklin (3).

Firebird Lawson (11) used her height and athleticism, feeding ball to the towering Aiken, to take a five-goal lead into the first break.

The Fever made several changes at quarter time, including the re-emergence of Karen Atkinson at wing attack as they tried to stem the flow of the Firebirds run.

Atkinson, who had been sick during the week, left the court after eight minutes in the first quarter.

Firebirds extended their lead to 11 goals late into the second quarter before taking a 32-24 lead at half-time.

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Fever’s Smith and captain Stacey Rosman came off the bench to inject some spark but the Firebirds were determined to better their two-goal win against the Perth side back in round one.

Midway through the third quarter the Firebirds opened up a 12-goal lead with accurate shooting and great inside passing by the likes of Lauren Nourse.

Lawson, originally from Western Australia, was rested in the final stanza to allow Tamsin Greenway her share of the glory.

Firebirds coach Vicki Wilson praised the defensive efforts of her team and the dominance of Lawson on the contest.

“Defence has been such a strong part of our game and I thought we were strong right across the court today,” she said.

“I thought in the circle we were a little bit soft at times and there were more balls we could have put a challenge on, but you can’t argue with a 65-46 result.

“Janelle was a standout for us, both in defence and attack and she was prepared to take on the shot.

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“She was the one Western Australia let slip away.”

Rosman blamed too many handling errors for her team’s performance.

“You can’t afford to do that in this competition and we need to be more accountable,” she said.

“We have to be consistent over four quarters and while we had a game plan we didn’t stick to it.”

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