Millicent 51 d West Gambier 48
IT was a match which lived up to its star billing as Millicent and West Gambier went toe to toe in a top-of-the-table Western Border netball clash on Saturday.
In the end, it was the Saints who prevailed by three goals in an arm wrestle contest.
West was without star shooter Sarah Ritter, who was at the 2022 National Netball Championships as part of the silver medal winning South Australian line-up.
Her sister Jade was also absent, while for Millicent Lisa Duldig was still sidelined and Demi Verbena was out as well.
Those personnel issues saw a couple of debutantes take to the court with West elevating goal keeper Tayla Wilson-Smith and Millicent giving star junior mid-courter Lillie Paul her first taste of the top grade.
West had the better of the early going with its fast ball movement and the pairing of Lisa McGregor and Claire Hunter combined well to apply scoreboard pressure.
The Saints did settle as Paige Nitschke took control of the attacking end of the court and by the first change it was Millicent by one.
West started strongly again in the second term and was able to hold the momentum until half time to lead by three goals.
Amy Cram created plenty of turnover ball and Hunter and McGregor continued to find good connection with Mikaela Horrigan and Tara Bryant.
Finding a way to goal was proving a lot tougher for the Saints but they did just enough to stay in touch, with Hannah and Paige Nitschke doing a mountain of work to move the ball through the tight Roos defence.
Millicent’s defence stepped up in the second half as Georgia Clarke tightened up on McGregor, Portia McRae started to win some ball and Paul also started to make it harder for Horrigan to find the circle’s edge.
At the other end of the court Daisy Tunkin started to use her speed to good effect and Tabatha Sanderson stayed closer to home and had her best shooting quarter in terms of accuracy with 10 from 12.
As the two teams headed into the final break, it was West by two, setting up a tense final quarter.
This time it was Millicent which came out the better of the two teams and as the errors started to come for the Roos frontline, the Saints showed great patience as they looked to find Sanderson in space.
Millicent worked their way to a five goal lead but West was not done and mounted a strong challenge.
That came on the back of Cram’s ability to create turnovers, while McGregor and Horrigan found some important defensive touches in the centre third.
However, in the end time beat the Roos and the Saints held on for a 51-48 goal win to remain undefeated at the top of the ladder.
Cram was clearly the Roos best, while Wilson-Smith got some critical touches and Zoe Malseed had a superb battle on the wing with Tunkin – the two young guns never far from each other’s side for the entirety of the contest.
The other epic battle was Hannah Nitschke and Bryant in the centre.
Neither gave an inch and they covered plenty of court as they looked to be the main outlet options for their teammates.
For the Saints, Sanderson was still a strong target and Paige NItschke slipped into the goal attak role seamlessly.
Paul had some good moments, especially at critical times in the final quarter where she created turnovers.
Clarke had the tough task of controlling McGregor and had a strong second half, as well as being a key link player, while McRae anchored the defence well and was rarely out-rebounded, as well as taking a couple of pivotal interceptions.
