Netball fast and open

Press, 17 July 1978, Page 11

Netball fast and open

For the first time for many »eexs the senior netball competition was puyed in fine sunny conditions, allowing all sides to play last open netball. In a spirited encounter, Sacred Heart b scored a slender win comfortable victones over Sacred over Hagley while St Nicholas Burnside A and Riecarton had Heart A. Burnside B and Teachers' College respectively. Burnside A 33, Bumside * 22. Burnside B began well, scoring three quick goals before the A’s had settled. Rosemary McGill and Heather Kench dominated in the B goal circle. McGill coping particularly well with her taller opponent, Wai Taumounu. Taumounu did not move with her usualy agility and she allowed McGill time to position herself favourably for the shot at goal. Playing its best game of the season, the B’s kept ahead until the A forward line asserted itself and with a patch of good shooting from Adrien Prattley drew level. Natalie Hall, the A goal defence, was strong in mid court, picking up loose balls and going for the Interception which in many instances swung plav back to the other end. Prattley was accurate in her shooting and at half-time the Bumside A side led IC-12. The flash of brilliance from the B'» was not sustained in the second half. Clare Connors, wing defence for A's, had worked hard in the first half and had a strong second half too. With a more determined effort from Taumaunu the A defence line began to function more efficiently and Kench and McGill found it more difficult to gain possession. Margaret Hewinson. the goalkeeper for the B’s, also had a •piendld first half, containing the New Zealand representative, Prattley, admirable-. Hewinson. along with Alice Bendal at goal defence, were unable to keep up the tremendous pressure they had applied in the early stages of the match. With Prattlev taking control of the shooting the Burnside A side added to its mounting score to be comfortably ahead at the whistle. If Nicholes 31, leered Heart A 2». Play was even in the early stages of thia match with Sacred Heart, as usual, very tight on defence. Ann-Mario McAtamney, Leigh Mills and PhtDlppa McLean worked as a unit enabling Sacred Heart to stay with St Nicholas. St Nicholas got a break, to go four points ahead, with some accurate shooting from Ann Davidson in the forward court and dominant rebounding at the defence end from Philippa Borlase and Barbara Kreft. Sacred Heart pegged back the score with a determined team effort and some fine mid-court play from goal attack. Joan Harnett. The team felt the benefit of Harnett’s play and worked hard to get Vicki Patterson into shooting positions. At half time, St Nicholas was holding a slender, four-goal advantage. The second half saw Ann Davidson at her deadliest and whenever she got possession a goal would result. Despite several fine interceptions from

| Leigh Mills, fbr Sacred Heart, St Nicholas gradually increased its lead. Pattersons usually effective dodge was nullified by Barbara Krett’s positioning. Kreft also dominated the rebound possession. Both teams had some fine court moves. The difference lay in the percentage of netted shots. Ann Davidson maintained her usual high average to enable St Nicholas to take the game by nine goals. Riecarton 27. Teachers' College If. Riccarton’s tactics against Teachers’ College paid diviaends. Julie McManus, back in her old position of goal defence, used her height to good effect. McManus set uo a close defensive block in alliance with keeper, Emily Regan, against College's main shooter, Carol Honeybone, who was unable to move without having contact called against her. This ploy upset the College forward line and instead of feeding passes to Sue Hume who was relatively free it continued to direct the ball into Honeybone. Riccarton’s change at its forward end was to bring Bridget Hlshon out into the goal attack position and the new goal shooter, who proved to be an asset, was Frances Mapleston from the B team. Mapleston is a senior reserve representative and showed she was more than capable of handling senior play. Jane Eddington and Sue Reeves played a sound game but did not dominate the Riecarton forwards as expected. At the end of the first half Riccarton was very much in control. College asserted itself and fought back gamely in the second half with Lyn Menzies, at centre, combining with Sue Hume to give College the possession it needed. The teams were close for the remainder of the game, but College were unable to make up its first half deficit.

Sacred Heart B 21, Hagley 22. This was a low scoring game, particularly in the first half. The defence at both ends dominated the play. Brenda Rowberry was not as hampered by her knee injury as in the previous weeks and combined well with keeper Margaret Smith to give the Haglev attacks a hard time. Bagley's defence, Janice Henderson and Dianne Petrie, was equally effective in containing the Sacred Heart scoring for although Penny Berry and Gabrielle Brocklehurst worked hard goals were few. By half time Sacred Heart had inched ahead to an 11-10 lead. Both teams used flowing moves which sent the ball at great speed through the court, to the delight of spectators.

Forwards at both ends got the measure of their defences and there was some good shooting and well timed passes between Berry and Brocklehurst for Sacred Heart and Lyndsay Pugh and Genoe Kotae for Hagley.

Brocklehurst. in particular, was rebounding brilliantly and it was this possession that gave Sacred Heart the edge. Strong pressure from the red team slowed Chris Pietzner’s centre pass off and broke the rhythm of the Hagley attack. Slowly Sacred Heart went ahead to score a fine win in a keenly-contested match.