Romelda Aiken easily won the battle against her Jamaican team-mate Althea Byfield as the Queensland Firebirds outgunned Central Pulse 58-46 in netball's ANZ Championship this past weekend.

Third consecutive loss

Ace shooter Aiken consistently used her height advantage to outmanoeuvre Byfield, Pulse's goalkeeper, and shot a game-high 46 goals at TSB Bank Arena for the Firebirds to register their first win of the season.

The Firebirds led the quarters 16-8, 29-20 and 42-32 and the result meant a third consecutive loss for Pulse.

16-14 run

Aiken, a 6-foot-5-inch 20-year-old, engineered a fine start by the Firebirds, collecting 13 goals from 14 attempts in the first quarter that set up a solid eight-goal advantage for the visitors.

Pulse were more competitive in the second and third quarters and only lost both those frames by a single point, going down 12-13 each time.

The Firebirds, beaten by the Thunderbirds (60-48) and the Vixens (54-51) in their first two games of the new season, closed out the game with a 16-14 run in the last quarter.

Most Valuable Player

Aiken, who was joint ANZ Most Valuable Player in the inaugural season last year, scored at 77 per cent accuracy, converting her 46 goals from 60 attempts, while goal attack Alissa Castrisos netted 12 from 14.

Paula Griffin led the Pulse scoring with 36/47.