Technical top team in senior netball

Press, 26 July 1976, Page 19

Technical top team in senior netball

Technical sewed up the senior netbali competition and became Canterbury's representative in the national inter-club championships when it thrashed Sacred Heart, 39-19, yesterday. Games between the two teams are normally very close, but Technical was far too good for its opponent yesterday. The minor placings still reimain in doubt with one round |left. There is little to choose | between the other four teams : — Riccarton. Teachers’ College, iHagley and Sacred Heart. Burnside lias won section B. Technical 3% Sacred Heart A 19 Sacred Heart, shooting directly into the sun, was at a disadvantage in the first half, while Technical, normally a slow starter, took the early lead after two fine interceptions by the goal defence, Maxine Blomquist. Some fine shooting by Frances Grainger and Robin Foster led to a flurry of goals and gave Technical a 10-4 lead, which put! pressure on Sacred Heart right through the court. The attacks missed three goals and then with a break on the centre throw-off the game swung even more in Technical’s favour with rebounds coming easily for Grainger and Foster, ibut seeming to. elude Penny ■ Berry, The game was lost for Sacred Heart in the first half when its shooters wasted valuable time and scoring opportunities by passing round in the circle. At the other end. the defence had no counter to the long, high lob into the hands of the Technical goal-shoot. Robin Foster. This pass often went straight from the centre and Foster desenes credit for taking these powerful lobs safely and then shooting successfully. The second half was all Technical and the gap between the two teams widened as the game! progressed. Lvn Caughlev was quick to the loose ball and ontplaved her taller opponent. She was ably supported by Blomquist and Morton on the wing. Ann Pierce, the wing attack, plaved consistently well, giving the Cantcrhurv representative. Phillina McLean, a bard time marking her. Often she eluded Mel can and fed the bah beautifully to G’-ainecr and Foster. Riccarton 35. Teachers* College 32 Careless errors at crucial stages by Teachers’ College cost it this game. Riccarton gained a three point advantage early in the first half and retained it until the final whistle, even though College fought hard to peg it back. The Riccarton centre, Elira Coffey, and the wing attack. Kate Carpenter, spearheaded the Riccarton attack, and although the College plavers. Daphne White and Alison Alborough. were ouick to mark these two. they often spoilt their «ood de.-‘ Tensive plav with obstructions, contacts. This gave Coffey and Carpen-j ter more ball and well-directed, passes allowed Marv King and; Vicki Lassen many scoring' chances. The Riccarton keener. Linda: McManus, rebounded better than: C. Honevbone. and as a result! ■of the missed shots play swung! in Riccarton’* favour. Riccarton led. 13-15, at half- 1

time, and play was also evenly contested in the second spell, but once again small details made the difference between winning and losing. At no stage did Riccarton release the pressure and College was unable to make up the three goals it lost in the first lOmin. of play. New Brighton 17, Sacred Heart B 12 This game was marked by its i extremely slow rate of scoring.' At both ends of the court the defence outplayed the attacks and kept the goals to a mini mum. Patsy Tanui (goal keep) and Christine Davidson (goal defence) kept bustling Gabrielle Martin (Sacred Heart) and Flick Grant giving them little opportunity to score. Sally Mene iSacred Heart) did likewise to her opponent. At half-time the score was 12-9 to New Brighton. Sacred Heart began strongly in the second half, but New Brighton countered by coming in front to receive the ball. Sacred Heart seemed unable to penetrate the goal circle. The ball got to the perimeter and then with an intercept bv Tanui or Davidson, flow’ed to the New’ Brighton goal. Lois Beard, the New Brighton goal attack, had a better second half and this combined with the good feeding of Jill Barnett at wing attack to give New Brighton its win. St Nicholas 23, Sacred Heart B 19 These two teams fought out an evenly contested game as they had done in the first round. There is little to choose between them, but this time the, 1 Sacred Heart forwards spent too much time looking for the pass’ in the circle instead of shooting and many opportunities were lost. Mary-Ann Kibblewhite played well at centre to give Gabrielle Martin and Flick Grant the ball, but got little support from them. The St Nicholas defence. Phil Borlase, played a tight game and, was responsible for many inter-1 ceptions. Barbara Krllt’s strong; defensive stance seemed to detei | the Sacred Heart shooters and play swung in St Nicholas’s favour. At half time it led 14-9. The game progressed slowly as both teams appeared to have difficulty in understanding some of the umpire s decisions. Consequently the two teams passed hesitantly as they’ did not know what infringements they were being pulled up for. The 15-year-old Yvonne Royce made her debut in senior netball as the wing defence for Sacred Heart and performed creditably against the more experienced Jan Stoddart. Sacred Heart contained St Nicholas in the second half, but; were unable to bridge the gap. St Nicholls 42, Cashmere 20 St Nicholas, seemingly inspired; bv its earlier win and looking fresher than ever, attacked strongly. Within a few minutes it had gone into a 10-1 lead. Pat Carrick and Ann Davidson were in great shooting form and if they did miss were first to the rebound and sunk the second shot. The Cashmere defence was far too loose and the St Nicholas; attacks dominated its goal area.

I At half-time St Nicholas led ; 23-8. Cashmere are without doubt I the unluckiest team as far as injuries are concerned. Each Saturday it is forced to play different combinations and it is little wonder that its play suffers. This week was no exception. Gail Schroeder replaced Glenys Ware at goal defence and Heather Chapman took April Baldwin's position of goal keep. No wonder the defence had difficulty in combining. St Nicholas, on the otherhand, had its best game so far and is now placed second behind Burnside in section B.