The students returned to winning ways on Tuesday night, claiming a resounding 86-47 win in the Dunedin women’s club competition.
It followed the defending champions’ loss to the South Pac Magic a week ago, the Falcons perhaps copping the backlash.
Tyler Mitchell led Varsity with 18 points, and was joined by Abby Harris (13 points), Leila Anesi (13), Keira Hill (11) and Legacy Harrison (10) in double digits.
But it was their all-round dominance that won this one, especially on the defensive end.
A locked-in Varsity team generated turnover after turnover in the first five minutes, both picking off sloppy passes and swiping loose dribbles.
From there they pressed their advantage. They pushed fast up the court to get to the hoop for easy transition baskets.
When they did not finish, all too often they grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on the second chance.
At that point, the Falcons’ problems became cyclical.
It is hard to play defence when you are constantly running back in transition.
But equally it is difficult to play good offence when you are constantly playing against a set half-court defence.
Consequently, the Falcons barely put up a quality shot in the early stages, as Varsity shot out to a 14-2 lead.
That quickly ballooned to 29-7 early in the second quarter, and became 45-18 by halftime.
Star guard Alexa Duff (16 points) offered some fight back for the Falcons in the third quarter.
She showed her ability both to create space for herself to score from deep, as well hit from the catch and shoot, and get to the hoop one-on-one in transition.
But a run, which got the score back to 55-36, was met. by another Varsity onslaught.
The students put on a 15-0 run, taking advantage back and stamping out any hope of a Falcons comeback.
Ajax defaulted to Magic in the other game.
