Four from four for Fast5 Ferns
It took them a little longer than they'd like, but the FAST5 Ferns finally clicked into place to shake off a valiant SPAR South Africa side 34-25 at the FAST5 Netball World Series.
The South Africans, who have yet to win a game, put up a brave performance against the only unbeaten team at this tournament, but the Ferns broke loose with some trademark moves in the final quarter.
"The whole team is really clicking now," Ferns shooter Bailey Mes said. "All the combinations are working really well together, and our transitioning is pretty seamless. So it's awesome to be out there."
While the Ferns struggled to make headway through a full-court South African defence in a very low scoring first half, the home side turned on the gas in the power play quarters - particularly South Africa's double-scoring opportunity.
"It's our goal to really put them under pressure in their powerplay, but keeping our score ticking over at the same time," said Mes, who's shooting came to the fore in the last quarter.
"We're really conscious of keeping our scoreboard ticking."
The Ferns put the South African attack under heavy pressure from the get-go, but the home side was guilty of rushing their own attack.
South Africa's veteran FAST5 shooting whizz, Maryka Holthauzen was in sharp form and gave her side a 6-4 lead at the first break.
New Zealand's shooting suffered from the wobbles, with the ball repeatedly bouncing out of the hoop. But smart intercepts from Katrina Grant and Jamie-Lee Price on defence gave the Ferns plenty of second chances, and they reclaimed the lead at halftime, 14-8.
South Africa's circle defence, rallied by Amanda Mynhardt, did a sterling job at keeping the Ferns' scoring to a minimum in their third-quarter powerplay - adding just 10 points to their tally, 24-9.
But the defending champions came alive in the final six minutes, blocking the South Africans from making a dent in the score difference, and a Mes shooting spree pushing the Ferns' total further out of reach.
Holthauzen admits her side left it too late into their powerplay to take three-point shots and close the gap: "so we’re definitely working on that if we have our powerplay in the fourth quarter in the next game.
"We still need to up the goal percentages if we want to win a match. We just want to stick to our game plan, play the best that we can.
"We are great believers in South Africa and we know people are believing in us so we just need to believe in ourselves -that we were selected to come here and do a job. I think we can do that in the next few games."
