A huge effort on the defensive end and an efficient game plan led to complete dominance for the Mandurah Magic’s women in their win over the Stirling Senators on the road on Friday night.
Mandurah went into the game facing a daunting task to overcome the third-placed Senators in their own building, but they made it look easy, cruising to an 85-55 victory.
The Magic opened the game with a bang, blitzing Stirling in the first quarter 27-13.
Their early dominance set the tone for the rest of the game, with Mandurah outscoring the Senators in every period in a statement win.
Magic head coach Randy Miegel said his side went into the game with a plan to play total team defence, and was thrilled with the results.
“It was a really pleasing game from all aspects, any way you look at it,” he said.
“[Stirling] scored 100 points last week and we were really wary of making sure we stopped those scorers early on.
“To keep a side that was third on the ladder to 55 points was something special so we’re really pleased with how the game went.”
Once again, the Magic got stellar performances from Carly Boag, Nici Gilday and Casey Mihovilovich.
Boag was an imposing force on the game with 20 points and 11 rebounds, while Gilday showed off both her defensive and offensive prowess posting five steals to go with an impressive 22 points.
Mihovilovich followed up a prolific performance against the Rockingham Flames last weekend with 19 points, seven assists and four rebounds.
But coach Miegel attributed the Magic’s control of the game to a team effort.
“I was impressed with all of our players. I think it’s hard to single out an individual because everyone played their role,” he said.
“It’s really luxurious for us to have such quality players throughout the entire team. You can call on anyone and know that they are going to work hard.”
Each Magic player saw more than 10 minutes of court time against the Senators.
Now, they will turn their focus to a double-header of action against Joondalup and Kalamunda on Friday and Saturday night.
The Magic last faced off with Joondalup in round seven when they picked up a 41-point win, but Miegel is expecting a different challenge this time around.
“They have had some really good wins in recent weeks and they have much more confidence now than they did last time,” he said.
“We expect them to come at us really hard from the get-go and play a really tough game.”
The game against Joondalup tips off at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre on Friday, 6.30pm.