Lightning shooting for three in a row

Following two straight wins, Sunshine Coast Lighting will face off against Melbourne Vixens at USC Stadium on Saturday and could move into the top four on the Suncorp Super Netball ladder with another victory.

Lightning player Kelsey Browne said she anticipated Vixens would come out firing, particularly with their attack end in fine form.

“I think they’re really strong across the board. MJ (Mwai Kumwenda) is a force to be reckoned with and she’s getting awesome ball from Liz Watson,” Browne said.

“I know a lot of those girls have played their juniors together. That experience and time together does really matter on a netball court.

“We’ve done our homework; we also just want to go out and play what we know and focus on us.”

Browne, who previously played for Melbourne Vixens alongside teammate Geva Mentor, said their inside knowledge of the club would prove beneficial for the upcoming match.

“We always have a bit of intel. It does make a difference in Suncorp Super Netball at the moment.

“Everyone is fit, strong, fast and able to compete. It’s those extra one percenters that you might know about your opponent that could win you a ball that could win you the game.

“All of the games at the moment are hotly contested and coming down to a couple of goals here and there.

“Our crowd is one of the best home crowds in the league, so we’ll be using that to our advantage this weekend.”

Lightning player Steph Wood said Suncorp Super Netball’s new point system had kept the competition relatively even as the season progressed.

“There aren’t many points between the top teams so anyone can jump into the top four quite quickly,” she said.

“Vixens are always a really tough team and I actually think we match up well against them so it’s definitely going to be a tough battle out there. Hopefully we can get the win.

“They’re not a team that turns over the ball a great deal so any turnovers we do get we need to treasure them and make sure we score off them. I think that’s probably where the game’s going to be won and lost.

“The season’s always about improving every single game so we want to put out a better performance than we put out against the Thunderbirds.”

Lightning will play Melbourne Vixens this Saturday, June 2 at 3pm at USC Stadium. The sold-out match will be broadcast live on the Nine Network and the Netball Live App. Sunshine Coast Lightning 2018 memberships are available at sunshinecoastlightning.com.au.

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