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Pulse slumps further

Pulse slumps further

04/17/2010 03:05:47 AM

The Adelaide Thunderbirds condemned the Central Pulse to its worst ANZ Championship defeat of the season, romping to a comprehensive 75-40 win in Wellington on Saturday.

From the first whistle the Australian side was in control and was never troubled leading at every stage of the match at TSB Bank Arena.

Thunderbirds goal shooter Carla Borrego continued her fine start to the 2010 season to finish with impressive figures of 58 goals from 59 attempts.

Captain Jane Altschwager was the Pulse's best with 25 from 32.

The Pulse was not helped by the absence of Silver Ferns defender Katrina Grant who was ruled out with a foot injury that required immobilisation in a moon boot.

That meant a recall at goal defence for Bessie Manu but other than that change, coach Yvette McCausland-Durie kept faith with the starting line-up from last week's loss to the New South Wales Swifts.

That saw the new-look midcourt combination of Daya Pritchard (centre), Camilla Lees (wing attack) and Cushla Lichtwark (wing defence) given another run-out after its success in the first half against the Swifts last week.

Thunderbirds coach Jane Woodlands-Thompson also made just the one change to her line-up with Sharni Layton handed the wing defence bib.

The Thunderbirds looked far sharper in everything they did and aside from the odd flashes from the Pulse, they were out-played from start to finish.

A five-goal burst by the Thunderbirds at the start of the match which got them out to a 6-1 lead set the pattern for the remainder of the game.

Natalie von Bertouch and Erin Bell were able to pick out 1.93m Borrego at will in the visitors' circle and the goal shoot made no mistake posting a perfect 15 from 15 in the opening quarter, while goal attack Kate Beveridge chipped in with five.

At the other end Geva Mentor and Mo'onia Gerrard barely gave Paula Griffin (6/9) and former team-mate Jane Altschwager (5/6) room to breathe and with the Pulse feeders struggling to get the ball into the pair they managed just 15 attempts between the two of them to trail 20-11 at the first break.

Altschwager was more productive in the second quarter netting eight from 10 but the Pulse simply was not getting enough ball into the circle and putting up enough shots to compete with the Thunderbirds, who were dominating all areas of the court.

Although Borrego made her only miss in the second quarter (30/31) she still managed to end the half having scored more goals than the Pulse pair combined as the Thunderbirds eased to a comfortable 38-23 lead at half-time.

There was no let-up from the visitors at the start of the third quarter either.

Switching Gerrard and Layton had no detrimental affect on the defensive cohesion and although Griffin got an early goal for the Pulse, Borrego fired in the next seven to stretch the lead to 21 goals.

A medical time out for Manu to get a calf iced allowed McCausland-Durie to bring on Jamilah Gupwell for Griffin.

It made no difference with Gupwell given no chance to put up a shot as ball into the Pulse circle dried up and the shooters managed just six goals from eight attempts in the third quarter, compared to 17 from 20 by the Thunderbirds as they took a 26-goal lead into the final spell.

A raft of changes in the fourth quarter for the Pulse, which saw Ngarama Milner-Olsen brought on a centre, Pritchard switched to wing defence and Griffin return for Gupwell failed to halt the slide.

With the match well and truly sewn up Woodlands-Thompson also turned to her bench giving Georgia and Emily Beaton and Jasmine Keane a late run.

 
Photograph Copyright : Getty Images
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