Tippett powers Australia to third win over South Africa

Australia’s first half dominance allowed them to cruise to victory over South Africa, securing themselves a spot in the 3^rd vs 4^th playoff. South Africa never hit their groove throughout the series and their final game was no exception, struggling to hit the scoreboard once again.

Gretel Tippett was again the difference for Australia, her 16 point power play in the second quarter almost outscoring the entire South African side for the game, securing Australia’s third win for the weekend, 30-18.

Australia again came out of the blocks shooting well, relying on star shooter Gretel Tippett to kick off the game, but South Africa gave chase late in the quarter with Deancke Rohde hitting all 3 of her shots to keep the South Africans in it at 8-5 in favour of the Australians.

Gretel Tippett started the Australian power play off well with a 4 point shot and never looked back, hitting all five of her shots to the tune of 16 points, while South Africa only managed 3 points, lending Australia a handy 20 point lead at the halftime break.

‘Yeah, that shows if you don’t do well in your power play it can really hurt you towards the end of the game. It was good to be that far ahead early’. Maddy Turner from Australia on their powerplay quarter.

South Africa failed to capitalise on their power play, with their only score for the quarter being a super shot from Charmaine Baard. Both sides defended well, with the Aussies being held to just the two points, coming from Tegan Philip. The Australians would go into the final quarter with a 16 point advantage.

‘Well actually we wanted to play the powerplay with two pointers, so we wanted to go for the twos, that’s obviously four, so I don’t know, I think because we saw what the score was, they were running away with us. We had to take a few chances and unfortunately that didn’t work for us’ Renske Stoltz on South Africa’s powerplay.

South Africa again struggled to find the bottom of the net as a 4 point quarter wasn’t enough to overcome the deficit. South Africa seemed to find a defensive rhythm in the final quarter, but couldn’t catch Australia, going down by 13 points.

Australia’s first half shooting display basically ended the game and relied on some strong defensive play for Poolman and Shimmin to close the game out in the second half as South Africa fall to the 5^th vs 6^th playoff.

AUSTRALIA 30 defeated SOUTH AFRICA 18

Australia shooting statistics 

South Africa shooting statistics