Sport
31 May, 2024
“One of the greatest performances”
CAMPERDOWN’S open netballers stunned the undefeated South Warrnambool Roosters over the weekend in a 46-44 upset victory.
Magpies coach Emily Stephens said she and the team were “floating on cloud nine” all week.
“It was an incredible performance by every single one of those girls,” she said.
“They kept a steady head, played their role and they executed everything beautifully while working as a team.
“It was probably one of the greatest performances I have seen.”
The league-leading Roosters descended on Leura Oval looking to extend their reign on the competition and got off to the right start as they amassed a five-point lead at the end of the first.
The Magpies managed to fight their way back in the second to level the scores heading in to the half at 22 apiece.
But Camperdown come out firing in the third quarter to stun the Roosters, who were only able to put an additional six goals on the board while the Magpies surged to 39 to hold an 11-point lead with a quarter to play.
“Our defence, mid-point and attack all just stepped up,” Stephens said.
“Anyone who was injected in to the game, be that for two minutes or 10 minutes, they all just stood up well beyond their years.”
The Roosters found form in the final turn and began steadily chipping away at the lead, but the Pies held their nerve to secure a two-point victory over the league powerhouse.
“They’ve been the benchmark of the competition over the last three years, they only had the one loss two seasons and are reigning premiers,” Stephens said.
“We implemented out game plan, and it worked.”
Best players for the Magpies were Piper Stephens, Lead Perkins and Lilly Eldridge.
Piper Stephens added an impressive 33 goal haul to her tally for the season, while Perkins knocked down 13.
Stephens said her young side would deservedly take a lot of confidence from one of the biggest upset wins south west Victorian sport has seen in years.
“We’ve had a young group of girls from last year, we actually lost this match up last year by around 50 goals, so when you put that in to context and to win this year there is an inner belief,” she said.
“We know we can play excellent games, we’ve put quarters together here and there, but we probably haven’t put four quarters of netball together.
“For them to do so, to see what they can achieve, is pretty powerful and a significant step for the rest of our season.”
The Magpies will look to build on their performance when the girls welcome Portland to Leura Oval on Saturday.
“They’re a pretty physical team so we have to adapt to that because we’ve got some young bodies in our team,” Stephens said.
“It will be all about playing our game and our structure.”
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