The Southern Steel have scored a record-breaking 84-58 win over the Canterbury Tactix in their trans-Tasman netball competition clash in Christchurch.
The Southern Steel's Shannon Francois leaps for the ball. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
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 before she was forced off the court after landing awkwardley in the final quarter.
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.
The Steel are third in the New Zealand conference and the Tactix last.
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)
