Top teams show superiority

Press, 21 July 1986, Page 14

Top teams show superiority

The gulf between the top and bottom halves of the Trusteebank Trophy Christchurch premier netball competition was clearly emphasised in Saturday’s round of matches at the Hagley courts.St Nicholas, Sacred Heart and Hagley dished out comprehensive beatings to Hornby Wycola, Burnside and Riccarton to leave a ninepoint gap between the two groups of teams. The highlight of the senior competition was Cashmere’s first win of the season, beating the second-placed South Brighton. However, while victory was sweet for Cashmere, it was tinged with disappointment, as it will automatically lose one of its two points on a technicality. Having played a player from a lower grade in the senior side once too often, in contravention of the regrading rules, it lost a point several weeks ago. As it had no points anyway, it was held over until Cashmere did have points on the board, which happened on Saturday. Points.— Premier: St Nicholas A 20, Sacred Heart A 17, Hagley 15, Riccarton 6, Bumside 5, Hornby Wycola 3. Senior: St Nicholas B 18, Sacred Heart B 16, South Brighton 14, St Nicholas E 10, Technical 6, Cashmere 1. Premier Hagley 84, Riccarton 29 Bad luck struck Riccarton twice as it was deprived of both its goal shoots during the game. Sue Bradshaw, who was injured last week-end, began the match at goal-defence, but came off after the first quarter as her movement was severely restricted by the injury. At the end of the first quarter, Riccarton moved Karen Donnell to Bradshaw’s position and brought on Stephanie Bourne at wingdefence.. Hagley widened' the gap from 12 goals at the end of the first quarter, to 29 goals at half-time. There was not a lot wrong with Hagley’s game throughout this match; its shooting was impressive and its attack superior. At 41-18 down disaster struck again for Riccarton. Diane Nells went over on her ankle and left the court in pain. Riccarton was forced to play without a goal-shoot at all, until Megan Cassidy was

brought in. Cassidy, a Canterquarter.;; Its early show of strength waste prove invalu--able in the later stages of the match, si South Brighton had a onepoint lead after, the first spell and further increased this to four goals, by half-time. 1 ■. bury basketball representative, happened to’be on the; sideline watching when a desperate Riccarton side recruitedher. But it was all downhill for Riccarton and its rhythym and confidence floundered. Hagley applied the pressure and forced many quick goals, taking advantage of Riccarton’s misfortune. St Nicholas A 64, Hornby Wycola 37 Typical of its unwavering determination, Hornby held St Nicholas well in the beginning of the match. It led, 2-0, and levelled at 6-6 out to prove that it was to be a force to be reckoned with. St Nicholas had varied its recent usual line-up, with Chris Mitchell and Barbera Kreft playing defence and Avril Aymes at centre. In spite of Hornby’s early success, St Nicholas had the maturity and experience to break away early on in the second quarter to increase its goal margin from seven to 16 goals. At half-time St Nicholas substituted Angela Pule for Aymes. Shortly after, however, Mitchell was carried off in a wheelchair with a leg injury. Pule stepped into her position and Lynne McLennan came in at centre. Such a dramatic changearound would have affected most teams but not St Nicholas which is well practised in differing combinations and have much talent to draw from. Sacred Heart 62, Burnside 31 Sacred Heart’s. polish was the telling factor, and it never looked in any strife. Anna Richards’ deft feeding at centre was unsurpassed and the secure nature of the centre passes gave an added advantage to Heart. Heart was using the talented B team and former Riccarton player, Margaret Bray, and she played spiritedly. Burnside had a profitable first half, in spite of Heart’s eventual 20-goal lead by halftime. Sue Camp was very speedy in the mid-court region and her coverage .was excellent. Burnside’s shooting steadied progressively, although it was no match for the ease and frequency of goals netted at the other end of the court. Senior Cashmere 42, South Brighton 41 Cashmere really got it all together, and curbed South Brighton’s lead in the first

At this stage. South Brighton felt relatively confident of increasing its lead, but Cashmere, never to be underestimated, fought back bravely, using its defence intelligently. Diana Leslie at wing-attack and Paula Kay at centre, had swapped positions for this match, which seemed to make the feed down midcourt flow more smoothly. The third quarter was a real tussle, but by this stage Cashmere’s team work was at a high pitch, and the goal shoots, Judith Armstrong and Felicity Lili, stepped up tl\elr

accuracy just at the right time. Leading by three goals going into the final quarter, Cashmere sensed a victory, and with South Brighton making . unnecessary errors Cashmere maintained its edge in the last minutes. St Nicholas B 43, St Nicholas E 37 Each team bad won one of the two matches between them this season, but the E team looked more inspired in the early stages on Saturday and led, 12-9, at the end of the first quarter.

However, the B team got into gear in the second quarter. Its mid-court passing opened up the shooting area. The shooting became more positive and the defence tightened in the second half. With'a five-goal lead going into the last quarter, St Nicholas B looked more sprightly, and its fitness was the telling factor in the finishing stages. Sacred Heart B 59, Technical 38 Sacred Heart kept a firm hold on the lead through every quarter.

Technical began too slowly and let Heart speed ahead to a 10-goal lead early on while Heart began strongly, It petered out somewhat as the game wore on. Sharon Young’s 10 days in Hawaii seemed to lift her game as she netted particularly well in the first half, which eave the whole team a positive boost

Technical did well to prevent Heart further increasing the lead In the second half. Heart only managed to widen the margin by two goals in each of the last two quarters.