NORTH GAMBEIR 62 d CASTERTON SANDFORD 24
THE Cats welcomed back a former star for Round 11 of Western Border netball on Saturday, but it was not enough to get them over the line against an ever-improving North Gambier.
Tayla Guthrie was on hand to shore up the Casterton Sandford defence line, but she did have arguably one of the toughest jobs in the Western Border A Grade competition – denying Caroline Davey easy ball and a plethora of scoring opportunities.
Unfortunately for the Cats, Davey was a key factor with a best-on-court performance that saw her net 45 goals from 53 attempts as the Tigers took control of the contest early and built on their dominance to secure a 38-goal victory.
Despite the disruption of two blood rule infringements that saw Lauran Norman take to the court twice for North Gambier – once in the mid-court and one in her more familiar role of goal attack – the Tigers were unfazed with a consistent four-quarter performance.
Noni McConnell was also influential for the Tigers as her tight checking, willingness to contest and ability to read the play and hunt the intercept ensured there was plenty of turnover ball for North.
Mel Renko and Brianna Walters connected those defensive efforts with the shooting circle with Ellen Brown and Davey and the conversion rate ensured the scoreboard was always in the Tigers’ favour.
It was the experienced players for the Cats who led the way, with coach Tori Broomby again her side’s best, alongside 300-gamer Scarlett Jarrad.
Broomby continues to be the general of the Casterton Sandford attack line, while Jarrad is simply inspirational with her work rate – her hard running both defensively and offensively to give her side the best chance of being competitive has been exactly what has made her the respected player at her own club and in the competition.
Despite the comfortable margin, the Cats would be pleased to have only conceded 62 goals to the powerhouse Tigers who have regularly scored around that mark against more fancied and experienced opposition.
MILLICENT 84 d SOUTH GAMBIER 49
The clash at McLaughlin Park between Millicent and South Gambier started in a similar fashion to their Round 2 clash, with the Demons matching the reigning premiers and at quarter time the Saints held a slender three-goal lead.
A perfect shooting performance from Lara Munro and the strong holding of shooter Grace Edwards, combined with some important defensive touches from Brandi Bouchier and Ellie Bouchier, saw most of the quarter a goal-for-goal contest and were it not for some turnover ball created by young Saints keeper Portia McRae, the Demons might have been even closer.
Tabatha Sanderson was always going to be the biggest headache for the Demons and so it proved, with the returning shooter netting 16 from 19 in the opening quarter, followed by 19 straight in the second as the Saints started to take control.
By half time the margin was 13 as the speed of ball from Lucy Denton, Demi Verbena and Paige Nitschke started to become difficult for the Demons defence line to control.
The defensive effort from the Saints also stepped up as they looked to shut down the Demons well before the ball reached the accurate Munro and strong-holding Edwards.
The third quarter put the result beyond doubt as the tight checking pressure from Denton and Lisa Duldig started to see a high error rate from the Demons and with Sanderson and Nitschke finishing strongly from their high number of opportunities, the three quarter time margin was 21 as the Saints continued to pressure South into mistakes and capitalise at the other end.
Sophie Ellis entered the clash at goal defence in the second half and made life tougher for Munro, while South also made changes in the last, moving Renee Pluckhahn from centre to her more familiar role of goal defence, with Hannah Witherow taking the centre bib and Ellie Bouchier moving from goal defence to the defensive wing.
But in the end, the Saints were just too good.
The classy delivery from Denton, Verbena and Nitschke ensured Sanderson was an almost unstoppable scoring machine, scoring 70 of Millicent’s goals.
EAST GAMBIER 57 d WEST GAMBIER 50
The Bulldogs remain undefeated but the injury count is starting to add to the challenge of a season that has East Gambier as the clear premiership favourite.
Already missing Tyne Bosko, still recovering from a friendly fire incident at the SA Country Championships on the June long weekend, the Bulldogs now face potentially a month without star mid-courter Tarsh McCallum, after she was forced from the court with an injury that has threatened to sideline her for some much-needed recovery time.
Despite losing McCallum early, forcing a reshuffle where youngster Kate Dempsey moved from the defensive wing to the attacking wing and Chloe Perryman again promoted to the A Grade defensive wing, East managed to hold on for a seven-goal victory.
Dempsey arguably looked even more at home on the attacking wing, while Perryman brings tenacity and physical presence to the defensive end in the absence of Bosko.
The opening quarter was an even affair, ending with a tied scoreline of 14 apiece.
It was the second quarter where the damage was done, where turnover ball from Bo Creek – who celebrated her 250th appearance for East at the weekend – and a strong shooting performance from Tenille Gray and Amryn Bosko, the duo converting 16 from 20 to set up a six-goal half time lead.
The second half was an arm wrestle but the Roos needed to be able to overcome the deficit and just could not make the inroads required.
Jade Ritter certainly got some important touches at the defensive end and with sister Sarah continuing to be a strong focal point at the other end of the court, West had their chances but just not enough.
Sarah Ritter started the match with 11 straight goals and then continued to be critical, with her third quarter also outstanding, netting 11 from 13 but in the end Creek did enough to curb the scoring, not just one-on-one with Ritter, but also hunting the interception throughout the goal third.
