West Gambier 53 d Casterton Sandford 50
CASTERTON Sandford trailed by only one goal at one stage in the final quarter but in the end, West Gambier secured the premiership points, surviving the scare from the always tenacious Cats in Round 6 of Western Border netball.
The Roos were in control early at Island Park, scoring the first five goals of the match.
Tahlia Earl was playing with confidence, Lisa McGregor provided her usual output and Carlee Davey was finding the circle’s edge with ease.
It loomed as the predicted comfortable victory but the Cats had other ideas and after weathering the early onslaught worked their way back into the contest to trail by only four goals at the first change.
The second quarter was another arm wrestle with the Roos just getting the edge and taking an eight goal lead into the main break.
From that point on, it was really all the Cats.
Abbey Shannon was dominant in defence and continually created turnover ball, while at the other end, Tori Perry and Renae Newell were working the angles to find each other in space.
The Cats attack were working hard despite the fact West defenders Amy Cram and Maddy Teakle applied plenty of pressure and created turnover ball.
As good as the Cats were, the Roos were far too error-prone with ball in hand, allowing Shannon and her defensive partner Sharna Fidler to get their hands on the feeds.
The home side drew back to within six at the final change and were it not for a late charge from the Roos, Casterton Sandford could well have secured a breakthrough victory.
In the end. Cram and Teakle were able to win the ball back for the Roos enough times, while Lisa McGregor was sublime, working overtime to help bring the ball down court as well as being the focal point in the shooting circle.
Newell was outstanding for the Cats, with her perfect timing and good pace, while Shannon has been her side’s best in every round this season thus far and the weekend was no exception.
North Gambier 63 d East Gambier 54
NORTH Gambier cemented its position in the top two of the Western Border netball A Grade competition with a strong victory over East Gambier in the match of the round at Vansittart Park on Saturday.
East managed the better of the start as its attack line found plenty of space.
Tenille Gray was able to earn scoring opportunities in range on a regular basis.
Sara Smith, Sarah Lock and Tarsh McCallum all combined well with Gray and the quick ball movement and strong driving paid dividends.
However, North Gambier did settle and Caroline Davey found good space at the post, which resulted in the match quickly becoming a goal-for-goal battle.
One of the highlights of the match was the match up of the two centres – North’s Amanda O’Shaughnessy and East’s Tarsh McCallum.
O’Shaughnesy not only delivered the ball with precision to Davey but she had some serious impact defensively, although that being said, McCallum was still the most influential Bulldog mid courter on the court.
By half time, North had secured a narrow lead, despite Gray continuing to play a pivotal role for the Bulldogs and defenders Morgan Amy and Bo Creek getting their hands on any misfeeds from the Tigers.
The third quarter saw the Tigers step up a gear and the Bulldogs seemed to lose focus.
Still building their defensive chemistry, Jordyn Adams and Maddie Whaites started to close down the space on the Tigers – Adams went out hunting and created some turnover ball and Whaites refused to allow the East goalers any easy ball.
Adams was also critical in the rebounding duels.
Partially because of the defensive pressure, including incredible hands pressure from wing defender Ash Kalantarian, and partially through a loss of concentration, the sure delivery from the Bulldogs suddenly became erratic and forced and the Tigers happily created the turnovers and built a lead of eight by the final change.
East challenged on a few occasions but the Tigers were able to answer every challenge.
The work rate of Kaitlin Egan on the attacking wing and goal attack Ellie Gould were pivotal in the final scoreline, with Gould taking some hard earned possessions and finishing accurately.
Gray loomed large again in the final quarter but the damage had been done in the third and North refused to give up the lead.
Millicent 81 d South Gambier 54
THE reigning premiers continued their undefeated status in the Western Border Netball Association A Grade competition with a 28-goal victory over South Gambier at Blue Lake Sports Park.
Despite the loss, the Demons would be pleased with topping the 50-goal mark for the first time against Millicent.
The losing margin was a significant improvement on recent outing and South was able to keep with the Saints at times.
In the second term the Demons were able to stay with the titleholders, losing the quarter by just three goals.
Lisa Duldig – who has been battling knee soreness – was rested for the clash.
The former coach’s absence allowed Madi Haggett to make her debut, playing the first half of the game at goal defence.
Donna Denton was again supreme, converting 53-from-58 in a dominant display.
She was well serviced by Demi Verbena and Paige Nitschke.
Nitschke started on the attacking wing, before she moved into goals for the final quarter, where she netted an impressive 10-from-12.
South shooter Tilah Buckingham had a particularly strong opening half – converting 19-from-24 and providing a great target for the Demons forward line.
Georgia Hood also bounced back from a quieter Round 5 outing to do a mountain of work in transition but also presenting strongly in the shooting strongly, coming into the game even more in the second half when supply to Buckingham was more limited.
Isabel Redemski hit the court in the second half as well, bringing her pace and athleticism to the attacking wing.
The Saints certainly finished with a flourish, extending their winning margin by 11 goals in the final quarter alone.
Madi Turner again proved influential, while Hayley Dunn and Kimmi Varcoe had their best quarter defensively, holding South to 10 – its lowest quarter total for the clash.
