THE Mandurah Magic had to come from behind to beat the Kalamunda Eastern Suns in Game 1 of their quarter-final series but the injection of Casey Mihovilovich proved the difference as coach Randy Miegel was pleased with how his team handled the pressure of being the higher seeds.

The Eastern Suns led the Magic by double-figures shortly before half-time last Saturday but that was without MVP candidate Mihovilovich, and with her help in the second half Mandurah were able to end up winning 64-53 at Ray Owen Sports Centre.

That gives the Magic a one-nil lead in the quarter-final series as it now heads to Mandurah this weekend starting with Game 2 on Friday night and then if Kalamunda is able to win that, then the deciding Game 3 will take place on Saturday night.

Looking back on Game 1 last Saturday night, Miegel actually felt that his team felt the pressure of being the higher-ranked team early on in the contest, but he was much happier with what he saw in the second half to set up the win.

"I actually thought there was a little bit of pressure on us with us expected to win which is a little bit unusual for us in finals recently, so I think it was a lot about nerves that led to us missing lay-ups and a lot of open shots. But Kalamunda did put us under a lot of pressure," Miegel said on SBL Slam on 98five Sonshine FM.

"I was happy with the second half, but I wasn’t happy with the first half. I thought our intensity was pretty average actually and I questioned a few of the girls, and they came out and did perform well in the second half. We wanted to really get out in transition, which they did, and attack the basket on broken plays and that worked."

Mihovilovich came into the game under an injury cloud with a troublesome finger, but when things weren’t going Mandurah's way, Miegel simply couldn’t hold her back any longer and he now expects his star to start Friday's game having had almost another full week to recover further.

"We spoke about it on Thursday night at practice and she was right to play, but we just thought an extra week would have done her the world of good," he said.

"But obviously getting down by 12 or 13 we just had to bite the bullet and get her on the floor. We had to hold her back too because she kept telling me she was ready to go, but when she got on the floor she changed the dynamics of the game."

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Serene-Elise Photography