Women's A play Pirie Panthers.

On the Saturday 17th of October the Whyalla Stealer Women’s A travelled to Port Pirie to play the curtain raiser for Port Pirie Men V’s SA Defence Forces.

The Whyalla Stealers team consisted of Alicia Sawford, Kylie Pickert, Ebony Curwood, Shannon Tarran, Kylie Knight, Michaela Wise, Anna Chapel and Taylor Breen. The Pt Pirie side was made of a mixture of experienced players and some juniors. Both Whyalla and Pt Pirie had girls unavailable due to end of season netball trips.

The Stealers girls who were playing in their first game together come out very slowly, while Pt Pire began fast and attempted full court pressure. While the up tempo defence was not effective, it did set the pace of the first quarter. Pirie shot exceptionally well, sooting a high percentage and making the most of every opportunity. While the Stealers continued to have many scoring shots, they were off target, but were getting second chances and at the end of the first break trailed Pirie 18-14.

Taylor Breen stepped with intensity in the second quarter, showing tough, aggressive defence which led to turnovers and a game that was turning the way of the Stealers. Showing more composure in offence and setting up more plays, the Stealers were able to peg back the lead and also show great defence in stopping the scoring of the Pirie Panthers. Alicia Sawford was making the most of open shots and showing some aggression at the basket scoring on drives and giving her opponent some serious problems. Scoring 5 points in that quarter and also giving off some excellent assists. This led to the Stealers going on a 26 to 12 scoring barrage in the second quarter led by Kylie Pickert and Shannon Tarran scoring 7 and 5 respectively. Half time the Stealers had gained the advantage and had a 10 point lead.

The girls come out in the third quarter with the attitude to not to defend the lead but to extend the lead. Ebony Curwood showed why she has long been one of the players to watch in Whyalla stepping up the full court pressure and shooting some good mid range shots. Both Anna Chapel and Michaela Wise played excellent games with their defensive pressure. Getting both offensive and defensive rebounds and allowing the Stealers to have second and third shot opportunities. The girls extended the lead out to 22 heading into the last quarter.

The last quarter started with Pirie Panthers again applying full court defence, with the Stealers this time breaking through the middle and scoring with ease, piling on 30 points to close out the game on a high. While the game was physical both ways, the Stealers were able to not only absorb but reapply. Composure was shown by all players. Top scorers were Kylie Pickert with 21, Shannon Tarran with 20 and Ebony Curwood with 15.

A truely unbeleivable effort by the girls, even though they were down at the start, it was the effort for the rest of the game that got them the win in the end.