West Leagues Balance coach Tracey Baggs credited a commanding 58-39 win over top-four contenders Nova Thunder to having most of her players available for the round-three clash in Newcastle championship netball at National Park on Saturday.
West shot out to an 18-7 lead at the first change, were up 32-16 by half-time then 44-28 heading into the last quarter.
Central Coast Heart goal shooter Maddie Taylor was allowed to play the first half and helped set up the win but Baggs said the defensive combination of Natarlia Manning, Mikenzie McManus and Karli Harris proved pivotal.
"We just had ability to make changes everywhere and it makes a huge difference," Baggs said.
"Maddie Taylor played half a game, so we played her first up and we got out to 16 by half-time. Then I put Hannah Cullen, who's our midcourter, into shooting when Maddie had to come off and she did amazing.
"Natarlia Bridges was back and she made a good impact in the defence end with Mikenzie McManus and Karli Harris. They were solid at the back between the three of them and Sophie [Buckley] was the maestro in the middle.
"We did stop a lot of their ball. Nova are very quick but we seemed to clog it up and stop it and they struggled to link from one end to the other."
Thunder were without regular goal shooter Brooke Fennings due to unavailability but player-coach Kaite Robinson said West were "just too strong".
"They just had so much access to the edge of the circle, and options," Robinson said.
"I think when two of us kind of have to cover Maddie Taylor at shooter, it leaves so many more gaps and they could always just find that right gap.
"So their flow down the court was really easy for them and we just took lots of passes and were very hesitant with our passing, and that makes you pretty stalled down the court."
Inner Glow set up a 39-32 win over BNC Whanau with a strong third quarter in which they outscored their counterparts 13 goals to seven.
The match was locked at 9-9 at quarter-time, Inner Glow were up 18-17 at the main break then were ahead 31-24 at three-quarter time.
"It was a tight tussle of a game and the third quarter won it for us," Graham told the Newcastle Herald.
"I think we were one-up at half-time and it was 13-7 in the third quarter. We played quite composed netball. It was a fairly physical game and we just kept our composure. I put Khiani Gregory on at centre and fresh legs in that third quarter just helped I think.
"I thought the defence did well, [goalkeeper] Caitlin Davis and we also have got Chloe Pattison, who played her first game for us. She's from the Charlestown under-17 rep team. She's also made the NSW Emerging talent team and she played goal defence and she was fantastic.
"Chloe and Caitlin combined really well and, as well our wing defence Ashley Miller. I thought they stood up all day and kept turning over ball and bringing it out of our defensive end really strongly."
The win was the second from as many starts for a new-look Inner Glow, who face Nova next, but Graham said it was tarnished in the final minute of the match when Davis was taken to hospital for testing after hitting her head on court following an accidental tangle with a BNC player.
Souths led at every change to beat Junction Stella 67-22 and University of Newcastle rebounded from a second-round loss to be 58-42 winners over Kotara South.
Round three results:
West Leagues Balance beat Nova Thunder 58-39. Q1: 18-7; 32-16, 44-28.
Souths beat Junction 67-22. Q1: 19-1, 42-6, 54-15.
University of Newcastle beat Kotara South 58-42. Q1: 14-7, Q2: 25-16, Q3: 44-27.
Inner Glow beat BNC Whanau 39-32. Q1: 9-9, Q2: 18-17, Q3: 31-24.
