Sport
15 July, 2025
Avoca survive fright to extend streak to 44
Newstead gave Avoca an early scare, but the Bulldogs eventually found their rhythm, pulling away in the second half to extend their unbeaten streak to 44 games after a 63-40 win.
Both teams added two players to their squad after their victories last week. While Avoca brought back familiar faces Kodie Smith and Ellie Meagher for Isabella Thomson, Newstead had two fresh faces for this clash.
Defender Erin Delahunty and shooter Caitlin Richardson made their season debut for the Steaders, replacing Tahni Clark and Brianna Jury.
With the addition of Delahunty, Chelsey Williams was moved into the midcourt at wing defence, giving the hosts a serious defensive prowess in their third.
The pairing of Delahunty, Williams and Zoe Douglass was proving to be rather tricky for the Bulldogs to break down, forcing Avoca’s vaunted shooting duo to settle for only 14 shots in the opening quarter.
Not to be outdone, the Bulldogs Keisha Tonzing, Caitlin Drummond and Smith used their height advantage to great effect in the first term, coming up with multiple intercepts as well as highly effective shot contests and rebounding.
Nothing could separate the two teams after the opening period, with the scoreboard reading 8-8 at quarter time.
While Newstead’s Richardson and Tayla Gale both scored four in the term, Avoca’s Maddy Egan did the bulk of the early scoring for the visitors, netting seven while teammate Gina Beavis added one.
Avoca’s offence began to click into gear to start the second quarter, bursting to 18 goals in the term to build a six-goal lead by half time.
Centre Faith McKenzie seemed to be involved in every Bulldogs attack, showing great chemistry with Egan and Beavis as the former scored 11 and the latter provided another valuable outlet with seven.
The shooting of Richardson and Gale kept the hosts in touching distance of the back-to-back premiers at half time, combining for 12 goals from 15 attempts.
The Bulldogs experienced a major setback at the start of the second half when the dependable Smith suffered a knee injury while fighting for a loose ball, taking her out of the contest.
Despite the loss of Smith, Avoca didn’t miss a beat with Meagher subbed in, slowly increasing the gap to 11 goals to give themselves some breathing room at the final break.
Egan remained dependable even with the coverage of Delahunty and Douglass, converting 13 of her 15 shots in the third quarter while Beavis added five.
Gale began to find some more breathing room from Drummond and Tonzing with some clever movement and she made the most of it, netting nine with a 90 percent conversion rate. Avoca couldn’t forget about Richardson, who also scored four in the term.
Even with a comfortable lead, the Bulldogs ensured the Steaders didn’t muster a late rally, allowing only seven goals in the final quarter to blow out the final margin to 23-goals.
With Newstead heavily focused on containing Egan, who scored eight, Beavis showcased her shooting prowess with more opportunities in the final quarter, top-scoring with 11.
Gale netted all seven of the Steaders’ goals in the last term, ending with a team high 26 goals for the match after a slow start.
