Ascot Park Southern Steel (84) defeated Mainland Tactix (58)

Media Release
Monday 6 April 2015

Official Result & Statistics

Official Result: Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel (84) defeated Mainland Tactix (58)

In fast and furious record-breaking style, the Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel have taken out the southern derby with an 84-58 defeat of the Mainland Tactix in Christchurch tonight.

Through a flurry of shooters both young and experienced, the Steel broke the ANZ Championship record of goals scored in a match - surpassing the previous best of 80 - but their virtually unstoppable goal shoot Jhaniele Fowler-Reid paid credit to a full team effort for the milestone.

Fowler-Reid registered a highly respectable personal total of 58 goals, until an uneasy landing taking in a long bomb in the final quarter convinced her to take a rest. But that allowed young shooters Brooke Leaver and Sophia Fenwick to carry on the good work and crack the record.

The Tactix battled to find an answer for Fowler-Reid’s height and strength from the get-go, but the Steel attack wasn’t totally reliant on their Jamaican star. Goal attack Te Paea Selby-Rickit stood her own ground and contributed to the tally with barely an error in the first quarter.

The Steel’s defence was on-song too – Phoenix Karaka and Storm Purvis double-teaming the Tactix’s No. 1 weapon, Mwai Kumwenda, and stifling her under the hoop; Kumwenda could barely free herself to grasp at the ball.

Although the Tactix hung in there to be only three in arrears halfway through the first spell, the Steel turned up the heat with their midcourt defence and began to make huge strides ahead.

A breathtaking Kumwenda lay-up, set up by a perfectly timed lob from Hayley Saunders in the final seconds, brought the Tactix crowd to their feet, but it made just a small dent in the 24-13 scoreline in the Steel’s favour.

The Steel’s midcourt duo of Gina Crampton and Shannon Francois employed fast, precision feeding to Fowler-Reid and Selby-Rickit to further the chasm in the second spell.

The Tactix mined a few more channels through court to Kumwenda, who was still in fastidious form converting 22 of her 23 shots by halftime. But again, the Steel piled on another 24 goals in those 15 minutes, to construct a decisive lead of 48-31.

Both teams made a raft of changes for the third period – the Tactix mixing up their defence to try to put the brakes on the Steel express. But the circle defence pairing of Demelza Fellowes and Jess Moulds were facing an uphill battle, and the Steel notched up another five consecutive goals to let the home side know who was in control.

The changes kept coming, almost as fast as the goals, and in the waning minutes of the spell, Silver Fern shooter Bailey Mes came to the aid of Kumwenda into the shooting circle. It was a solid move, but Karaka and Purvis still held the upper-hand.

The Steel stormed on with fresh legs, in goal attack Fenwick and wing defence Katarina Cooper, to lead 67-45 going into the final stanza.

With the result almost certainly in the bag for the Steel, both coaches took the opportunity to give all of their squads court-time. The Tactix attack took bigger risks in bombing the ball into Kumwenda, and she didn’t always land firmly on her feet.

On 51 goals at the break, Fowler-Reid was fast speeding towards her record personal score of 65 (twice scored against the Tactix in the past). But her departure from the court with an ankle twinge allowed Leaver to make her Steel debut, and she revelled in her match-up with talented young Tactix goal keep Olivia Coughlin.

Tactix shooting statistics:
Mwai Kumwenda 37/40 (93%)
Gemma Hazeldine 11/14 (79%)
Bailey Mes 10/17 (59%)

Steel shooting statistics:
Jhaniele Fowler-Reid 58/66 (88%)
Te Paea Selby-Rickit 15/17 (88%)
Sophia Fenwick 9/13 (69%)
Brooke Leaver 2/3 (67%)

MVP: Jhaniele Fowler-Reid (Steel)

END

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