Melbourne Vixens reignite season with comeback win against Adelaide Thunderbirds

MELBOURNE Vixens staged another fightback to resurrect their title hopes with a 48-40 win over Adelaide Thunderbirds.

Bianca Chatfield

MELBOURNE Vixens goaler Kate Beveridge responded to criticism with a match-winning performance.

The Vixens staged another fightback to resurrect their title hopes with a 48-40 win over the second-placed Adelaide Thunderbirds at Hisense Arena.

After three consecutive defeats, the Vixens produced a brilliant third quarter to score their second win of the season over the Thunderbirds and move back to the top of the ladder.

Subscriber exclusive: Three things we learnt from the Vixens' win over the Thunderbirds

After the goalers received a rocket from assistant coach Eloise Southby-Halbish following last week's loss to Sydney Swifts, Beveridge helped turn the match around after halftime when she shot 12 from 13 in the third quarter.

The 193cm goaler finished with 29 from 36 attempts for the match with her fine long-range shooting on display.

The Vixens looked headed for a fourth straight defeat when they trailed by eight goals midway through the second quarter.

Southby-Halbish criticised the goalers for being "outmuscled" by the Swifts' defence and Beveridge was determined to respond.

"We really needed to pull our finger out this week and do what we were meant to be doing out there on the court," she said.

"I just think every team is really strong and hard to the ball. When you want the ball you are going to, I guess, take anyone out.

"That's what we needed to do this week. It's up to us to step up. Myself and Karyn (Howarth), we are big girls out there so for us to be pushed around it's not good enough.

"We needed to work on our strength and finishing off and giving the people in front of us someone to pass to."

Beveridge said the win was critical, with the players responding to a brutally honest discussion at halftime.

"Had we lost today, I think we would have made it very hard for ourselves to make finals," Beveridge said.

"Especially to knock off a team at the top, it will give ourselves some confidence.

"We have got a tough three games coming up and we need to make sure we have a win in all of them."

The Vixens have a bye next week before their last three games of the season against West Coast Fever at home and Central Pulse and Southern Steel in New Zealand.

THREE FEET with Rebecca Williams

1. It was a tale of two halves for the Vixens and their turnovers clearly reflected this.

The Vixens had a heavy turnover count of 19-12 at halftime, but had only six in a much cleaner second half to even up the ledger to 25-23 for the match.

2. The Thunderbirds made the surprise move of starting their damaging goal shooter Carla Borrego out at goal attack, with the athletic and swift-footed Erin Bell starting at goal shooter.

The pair rotated several times throughout the match, but it didn't unsettle the Vixens' defence.

3. Their form hasn't been flash in the past three weeks, but the Vixens still managed to pull their biggest crowd of the season on Sunday.

The Vixens drew 7212 fans at Hisense Arena for the Thunderbirds clash, eclipsing their previous best home crowd (5630) this year against the Swifts last week.