Millicent 60 d North Gambier 49
IT was an outstanding A Grade Western Border netball second semi-final on Saturday, but in the end it will be remembered for the two injuries to two of the competition’s biggest stars.
North Gambier shooter Caroline Davey’s season is over after she ruptured her Achilles with seconds to play in the third quarter and Millicent’s Lisa Duldig, having nursed her knee through most of the season, injured her ankle and will need every minute of the two week break before the grand final to come up for the title decider.
Davey had enjoyed a tough battle with Hayley Dunn and was her usual prolific self, netting 31 goals from 39 attempts, including 11 without a miss in the second quarter.
But when she left the court, with North five goal in arrears, you could sense the challenge, which had been strong, was over, with Millicent claiming the honours and advancing to the grand final.
Duldig sustained her injury with a couple of minutes to play in the second quarter and was clearly hampered before eventually succumbing at the half time break and handed the centre bib to youngster Hannah Nitschke.
Injuries aside, it was a tough contest, where neither side was allowed to play free-flowing netball and no more than five goals ever separated the two fierce combatants until the final quarter, as the defensive set ups of both team proved challenging.
Maddie Whaites and Jordyn Adams played their best game as a defensive combination.
However, Millicent’s goaling combination of Donna Denton and Demi Verbena were so accurate, converting 60 from 71 in a match where the star shooting duo had to do way more work than in any other game this season to earn the ball in good shooting position.
Adams was outstanding, taking a number of critical interceptions, even in the last quarter when the game looked done, while Whaites continued her form from what has been a strong season for the North goal keeper.
Davey held strongly and the feeding from Amanda O’Shaughnessy and Kaitlin Egan was accurate.
The Tigers experienced mid courters had to do a mountain of work to move the ball and work it to the circle’s edge, often using the back play to wing defender Ash Kalantarian who did as much work offensively as she did denying the Saints possession.
Ellie Gould also racked up the leg work as she kept putting on the front cuts to either open up the space for Davey or to set up her own shooting opportunities.
The Saints would be thrilled with the composure showed by Paige Nitschke and Hannah Nitschke, who held down the key mid court roles and fed the ball well under intense pressure to Denton and Verbena.
At the other end, Madi Turner, Kimmi Varcoe and Hayley Dunn never dropped their level and eventually – even though it was only a couple of times each quarter – a turnover opportunity presented and they took it, before the game did open up for them and more turnovers flowed in the final stanza.
The Tigers now have a tough week ahead on the training court as they look to come up with a new game plan.
Olivia Patzel, who took the court to replace Davey, is a smart young player, who had only returned that day to playing after a two month lay off with a knee injury.
There are other options within the A Grade squad to re-jig the line-up and while Davey is a player no team could cover, the Tigers need to regroup quickly to take on East Gambier this weekend.
