BFNL netball's top five have continued to distance themselves from the pack.
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A predictable round eight of matches on the weekend delivered wins to all five top teams over bottom-five rivals.
The top three, in particular, flexed their muscles, with ladder leader Sandhurst too strong for Kyneton in a 53-17 win on the Tigers' home court, Kangaroo Flat emerging as the weekend's biggest winner in a 51-goal victory over the Storm, and Gisborne accounting for Golden Square 58-22 at Gardiner Reserve.
In the round's closest match, Castlemaine overcame a spirited Eaglehawk 48-34 at Camp Reserve and South Bendigo battled back from a quarter time deficit to defeat Maryborough by 16 goals at the QEO.
At Strathfieldsaye, Kangaroo Flat coach Jayden Cowling praised a 74-23 win as one of his team's best performances this season.
The Roos all but guaranteed a victory with a slick and relentless 22-4 first quarter and put the issue beyond doubt with a 24-9 second quarter.
Goal shooting recruit Lou Dupuy topped 50 goals before earning a rest in the final quarter as the Roos advanced to 7-1 and maintained their hold on second spot on the ladder.
"The girls played really well considering it was wet - it rained three or four times, which made it really slippery," Cowling said.
"Storm challenged us in patches, but I thought it was one of our best games for the season.
"We spoke before the game about keeping our turnover rate low and that was something the girls did really well.
"It was still a challenging game, but I couldn't have been happier with how we went about it."
The standard for another 'full-team' performance was set in defence, where Carly Van Den Heuvel, Ingrid Hopkins and Milly Wicks excelled, while Chelsea Sartori and Ash Ryan controlled the midcourt battle.
Adding further excitement to a huge win for the Roos, Emma Moroney made her A-grade debut after coming onto the court in the final quarter at wing defence as Wicks moved to wing attack.
"She gave us another option and some depth. I think anyone in our A-reserve team could be playing A-grade netball, so it was awesome to see Emma make her debut," Cowling said.
"She's been with us a couple of years but has been playing some great netball in A-reserve and is dominating. She played really well."
Happy with the Roos' progress, Cowling said there were always areas for improvement in their game.
"While we did get a lot of turnovers throughout the game, we didn't convert all of them, so we want to make sure we lift our conversion rate," he said.
"A team like South Bendigo next week will punish us on the scoreboard and the top five teams at least will all do that.
"We need to make sure we are converting every ball that we get."
Eager to snare a top-three scalp, South Bendigo will pose a strong challenge for Kangaroo Flat next week, after beating a talented Maryborough 59-43.
Castlemaine's win over Eaglehawk gave the Magpies an extra four points break over Kyneton in the battle for fifth spot, ahead of next week's clash against Sandhurst.
In other round nine matches next week, Eaglehawk hosts Gisborne, Golden Square clashes with Strathfieldsaye at Wade Street and Maryborough and Kyneton will do battle at Princes Park.
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