Netball: Swifts trounce Magic

The NSW Swifts' perfect start to the trans-Tasman championship has continued with a club record high 78-50 win over Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic in Sydney.

It was a second successive hefty winning-margin for a driven Swifts side who seem intent on making amends for a narrow loss in last season's grand final.

The weakened New Zealanders were without internationals Leana de Bruin and Grace Rasmussen, and they soon found NSW Swifts to be too fast and too efficient.

The Magic went point-for-point early but then lost touch to be 22-13 down at the first break.

The free-scoring Swifts, 57-42 winners in last week's opening round, were dynamic in the opening quarter, scoring 22 from their 24 attempts with Caitlin Thwaites shooting at 100%.

To their credit, last season's New Zealand conference champions came to within five goals at one stage, only for the Swifts to re-establish their nine-goal margin at the midway point (37-28).

There was plenty of high-quality work at the net from both sides with the Kiwis having the better conversion rate in the early stages.

Malia Paseka scored 24 (from 30) for the Magic with teammate Jo Harten collecting 23 (26), while for the Swifts Thwaites scored a strong 39 goals from 41 attempts and Susan Pettitt netted 25 (29).

A remarkable third-quarter from the Swifts blew the scoreline to 59-40, while the intensity barely dropped as the Swifts reached a club high mark to easily eclipse the 70 points set in 2011.

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