Lightning's Super Netball win over Vixens

Sunshine Coast won their first game of the Super Netball season beating Melbourne by six-goals.

Super Netball newcomers Sunshine Coast continued their unbeaten arrival with a come-from-behind 58-52 victory over Melbourne Vixens at the USC Sport Stadium.

Star shooter Caitlin Bassett, who led the competition with 48 of 49 shots last weekend, finished the clash with 50 goals.

"After the draw last week we wanted to come out and have a cracking game for our fans," Bassett, who was unstoppable under goal, said.

Behind on the scoreboard until early in the third quarter, the Lightning followed up their Super League debut draw last week against reigning champions Brisbane with an impressive win in front of a packed crowd of 2003 fans

The Vixens started like lightning against their rivals of the same name, forcing them into repeated errors as they jumped out to a handy 5-1 early lead.

The Lightning shook off their early nerves in their historic first home game to finish the opening quarter trailing 15-12.

Things didn't get much better for the Lightning as they slipped behind 19-14 midway through the second quarter until their mid-court defence of Laura Langman and Karla Mostert forced some key turnovers as the Vixens began to make costly mistakes.

Kiwi international Langman came up with a great two-handed tap-on for specialist goal shoot Caitlin Bassett whose conversion reduced the gap to 20-17.

With the vocal crowd behind them Bassett tied the scores 25-25 just before halftime (27-27).

Vixen's shooter Mwai Kumwenda kept her side in the lead narrowly despite being aggressively harassed by experienced English Geva Mentor.

The packed crowd launched the "Lightning Bolt" signature gesture made famous by Jamaican superstar runner Usain Bolt during the high paced clash, urging their side to their first victory.


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Source: AAP


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