Fourth quarter woes saw the Mandurah Magic women slump to their second straight loss when they went down to the Perth Redbacks 68-84 in an Anzac Day battle on Wednesday.
The Magic women put in a blazing third quarter to erase a 23-point deficit, but couldn’t stay hot as Perth responded with a dominant fourth leading them to the 16-point victory.
Perth shot out of the blocks, stunning the Magic with solid shooting paving their path to a 27-point first quarter, giving them an eight-point advantage at the first break.
That blew out to 23 points when the Redbacks, inspired by Jessica Hughes and Kayla Standish, went on a 15-0 run to start the quarter and stamp their authority on the game.
But the Magic responded coming out of a time-out midway through the term, with Casey Mihovilovich leading the way to bring them back into the contest.
A Kelly Bailey layup cut the lead to 12, giving Mandurah the momentum going into half time.
Rachel Halleen put in a gritty performance for the Magic all game, and got the ball rolling coming out of the half with the first bucket.
Her Mandurah teammates followed her lead, particularly Anita Brown, who scored eight of her 17 points in the third quarter to help the Magic level the scores with just over two minutes left in the period.
A Lori Ashworth basket saw Perth take a three-point lead into the final interval, but it would be all Redbacks in the fourth.
They outscored the Magic 13-26 in the final term, gifting them the victory.
New import Regina Palusna played her first game for the Magic, with the centre coming off the bench and easing her way into it with eight points, five rebounds.
Brown led the scoring for the Magic with a 17-point outing, while Halleen tallied 11 points, nine rebounds.
Standish was the star for Perth, recording 18 points, 13 rebounds.
Justin Rake
Sports journalist for the Mandurah Mail, Australian Community Media, Fairfax Media.
Sports journalist for the Mandurah Mail, Australian Community Media, Fairfax Media.
