A Record Breaking Quad Series Win for Bassett

The Australian Diamonds claimed the Quad Series title on Sunday after defeating the New Zealand Silver Ferns 60 to 55, in Melbourne.

Western Australian athletes Caitlin Basset, Natalie Medhurst and April Brandley all played an integral part in the hard-fought match against the Ferns.

 Saving the toughest game to last, the Diamonds had previously versed the England Roses and the South Africa SPAR Proteas coming away with a comfortable victory over both teams.

Shooters, Bassett and Medhurst started the game strong giving the Diamonds a three goal lead heading into the first break.

New Zealand gave the Australian crowd a scare at the beginning of the second quarter scoring five quick goals on Australia, giving them a two goal lead.

This run did not seem to faze the experienced Australian side, maintaining their composure to bring the game back to a 30 to 30 goal score at half time.

With the third quarter came some changes in the Australia defensive end, with Brandley taking to the court in goal defence in order to provide additional height and Clare McMeniman moving out into wing defence. 

The change proved to be valuable, improving Australia’s ability to block and hold up New Zealand’s attacking flow through the midcourt.

Heading into the final quarter the Diamonds had a mere one goal lead on their trans-tasman rivals.

With less than two minutes to go in the game, the Diamonds found another level of intensity, scoring four goals in the space of a minute and taking out the game with a five goal win.

Natalie Medhurst played an excellent game, winning her second MVP award for the series, previously being named MVP against the England Roses.

Along with the series win WAIS netball athlete, Caitlin Bassett also finished the game with a personal best international record scoring 53 goals to beat her previous best of 49.

Caitlin’s previous record was set against New Zealand at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and was equaled against Jamaica at the Netball World Cup in Sydney last year.

She said, heading into the game, that there was no way she thought she’d be able to break her record due to the strength of the New Zealand defensive unit. 

The statistics at the end of the game came as a pleasant surprise to both Bassett and Diamonds Head Coach, Lisa Alexander. 

Alexander was quick to praise her shooter stating that “I was a bit shocked when I saw the score when I was getting interviewed for the broadcast. I said ‘oh my goodness, 53 goals!’ That is just amazing. Bassett has played so well this series; she’s just a true professional.”

Bassett and MEdhurst finished the Quad Series with some excellent shooting statistics, scoring 90% and 81% respectively.