New look, same performance from Watson

Jane Watson.
Jane Watson.
A new hairstyle did not stop Jane Watson continuing her old form for the Southern Steel yesterday.

The goal keep stood out in more ways than one, as she took the court sporting blue braids.

She went on to deliver a player-of-the match performance in the Steel's 82-58 win over the Northern Stars in Invercargill.

Jamaican goal shoot Jhaniele Fowler-Reid had been behind the new look.

''I guess having Jhaniele in the team,'' Watson said of her inspiration for the hairstyle.

''Just for a change, I thought I'd give it a go.

''So her and her mum sat down and did it for me.''

Watson's performance included five intercepts and six deflections, helping the Steel to a 48-25 lead at the end of a dominant first half.

It was unable to maintain that dominance though, as the Stars came back to win the third quarter 18-16.

''The first half was really good,'' Watson said.

''[The] second half I think we just lapsed in our energy and we didn't take care of the ball that we were getting and the ball from the centre pass to score as well.''

She said being consistent across the whole game was important and something to work on.

Coming off an 80-44 win over the Central Pulse, the start had felt something like a continuation of that performance.

''Yeah, kind of, and it was really nice,'' Watson said when asked about taking off where it last finished.

''We did talk about that. 'We did well in the last game, so how do we carry that on into this game?' Having a good start was part of that, and we managed to do that.

''But, yeah, we'll just try to do that for 60 minutes.''

Watson said the momentum swing was noticeable, but that did not make it easier to stop.

''You can feel the change [in momentum].

''I definitely try to communicate a lot to my team to just give them a lift.

''But, yeah, it's hard. Everyone needs to be able to do that themselves, as well, and get themselves out of a hole, as well as us trying to help everybody.''

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