Top netball sides win

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32976, 24 July 1972, Page 14

Top netball sides win

The two leading teams, Saered Heart A and Technical A, both had comfortable wins in the thirteenth round of the senior netball competition on Saturday. Results:— Technical A 45, Hagley A 24. Sacred Heart A 54, College A 14. New Brighton A 31, St Nicholas 10. Technical B 26, Sacred Heart B 22. Points are:—Sacred Heart A 24, Technical A 20, Riccarton A 14, Burnside A 12, Teachers’ College A 10, Hagley A 10, New Brighton A 10, Sacred Heart B 6, Technical B 6, St Nicholas A Technical A 45, Hagley A 24 Hagley forced the pace from the outset to try and keep the scoring low. But S. Langrope, fully recovered from a knee injury, played a fine positional game, and with S. Richards, combined to allow Technical to build a substantial lead at halftime, 24-12. Technical always looked to be In command, benefiting from the return of its two strong players. S. Rogers and L. Burney guarded and intercepted strongly to keep Technical on attack and S. Richards was in fine shooting form. For Hagley, C. Cottrell played ruggedly, throughout the court, linking the defences with the forwards. R. Pahi and C. Chaplain were fuUy extended in forward play and were continuously forced out of the circle by the vigorous guarding of the Technical defenders. Seered Heart A 54, Teachers' College A 16 Saered Heart took the Initiative from the start to build up a commanding lead. Brisk, controlled passing through the court highlighted Sacred Heart’s play. Its forward court functioned smoothly, and with forwards J. Harnett and E. Price, shooting accurately, Sacred Heart had a firm hold on the game at halftime, 25-9. Teachers" College looked disorganised against such fast attacking play and seemed un-

able to settle its combinations for most of the match. However, when C. Honeybone and J. Hughey penetrated Sacred Heart's defence line, they made good use of the short, snappy pass to score accurately near the goal. Sacred Heart’s centre court players, P. Mac Lean, P Beban and M. McLaughlin, featured prominently to contribute much to their team’s easy win. New Brighton A 31, St Nicholas

New Brighton, looking much improved, played as a unit to take a comfortable lead over an indecisive St Nicholas team.

R. Henry played her usual intelligent game, intercepting cleverly and covering the court well, but her efforts went unrewarded as fellow players lost control through the court. The New Brighton players were quick to the loose ball, with J. Blair leading the attack.

New Brighton’s defences, C. Matoe and C. Davidson, played aggressively, and St Nicholas goal attack, L. Anthony, using unusual circular movements, seemed unable to penetrate the goal circle.

If St Nicholas had been able to establish a more definite pattern and hold its positional play in check, the result of the game could have been much eloser. However, New Brighton deserved its win.

Technical B 26, Sacred Heart B 22 As expected, this game proved to be closely contested, with both teams displaying good tactical netball, involving some fine court movements.

M. Dhvburg figured prominently in the Sacred Heart attack, continuously setting her ©layers in position for through-court play. The eveness of the game was indicated by the half-time score of 14-13 to Sacred Heart.

In the second half, the Sacred Heart attack faltered w’ith its play breaking down in the forward court. Its defences, A. Van Woerkum and A. Martin, worked tirelessly, forcing Technical forwards out of the circle to receive the ball and restricting their circle play.

However, the Technical shooters. D. Tetai and J. Lam bi e, remained unruffled under the pressure and they continued to penetrate the circle and shoot accurately. Sacred Heart had its opportunities to regain Jost ground, but bad passing and the inability to capitalise at vital stages weighed heavily against