Diamonds coach Stacey Marinkovich said it was important to finish the year on a high. “It was huge, what we said was that this was a moment to set where we wanted the direction to go, and I think that’s really important,” she said.
“I just thought the tenacity of the girls, we chased down the loose balls, we were first to it, which we’d been lacking, and I just think we just relaxed and just played and you could tell that they were enjoying it.
“There were some smiles, there were some high fives, and we celebrated the moment in the moment as opposed to just worrying about what was next all the time.”
Kate Moloney started at centre for the first time in the series and Kiera Austin at goal attack with the Melbourne Vixens players fired up in front of a sold-out home crowd at John Cain Arena.
Goalshooter Sophie Garbin was flawless, scoring at 100%, with 36 goals – the first time she’s achieved the unblemished record in a Diamonds game.
With New Zealand leaving star shooter Grace Nweke on the bench, the teams were locked at 15-15 at the end of the first quarter. Nweke was brought into the match for the second quarter and was joined in the goal circle by Maia Wilson, but the Diamonds had their best quarter of the series and stormed to a six-goal lead – 32-26 at halftime.
Garbin finished the half with 11 goals while Austin kept the defence on their toes with six from eight before going on to slot an impressive 27 for the match. Goalkeeper Courtney Bruce also answered her critics by keeping Nweke quiet in the quarter while athletic goal defender Sunday Aryang kept the pressure on the Kiwis.
The Diamonds were able to push the lead out to a commanding 11 goals heading into the final term, finally living up to their world No 1 billing. Despite the margin coach Stacey Marinkovich resisted making any changes, not wanting to risk her team losing their rhythm to ensure they finished the series on a high.
New Zealand, who won the previous three matches with double figure margins, gave the Australians something to think about with midcourt ace Maddy Gordon’s return from the bench making an impact. They got to within six goals but the Diamonds again kicked away to secure a much-needed win.
Kiwi skipper Ameliaranne Ekenasio said while they didn’t get the clean sweep, her team was thrilled with the series showing. “We probably didn’t express ourselves in the way we wanted to finish off this last game so that’s a bittersweet moment,” the goal attack said.
“But I think we have to give credit to the Aussie team as well. We knew that their backs were against the wall pretty much and that’s kind of what we expected them to come out like.”
