Kangas break drought
AFTER a contentious draw last weekend, Ouyen United finally got their first win for the season, beating Robinvale Euston 45-37 at John James Oval.
It was a dominant first half that set up the win for the Kangas, Esther Manley and Catherine Brown shooting eight goals apiece to set up a 16-9 lead at quarter time.
The Kangas’ defence was at its miserly best too, conceding just 16 goals in the opening half, leading 28-16 at the long break.
The combination of the evergreen Tsharni Burns and the young, long limbs of Maggie Smith was spectacular.
Ouyen made some changes and Robinvale Euston lifted in the third term, reducing the 12-goal half time deficit to just five at the final change, but the Kangas’ experienced heads lifted in the last quarter to ensure the much-needed win.
Kangas’ star Brown, who has shifted from defence to attack this season, was happy that the Kangas are starting to gel with their new combinations
“A positive from the game is that the various things we practice at training are now showing on the court,” she said.
“It was an interesting game. We had moments of great play and then moments of lulls, which let them back into the game.”
Georgia Giofrelle was brilliant for the Eagles, scoring 25 of their 37 goals in a consistent four quarter performance. She hardly missed all game, executing from wherever needed, and encapsulated the freedom the Eagles played with in the last half.
Midcourter Mia Doherty was in the best for the Eagles.
The balmy 25 degree day was felt by the players, with many cramping and tiring a earlier than normal.
-Nic Vine
Dees show strength against Tigers
MILDURA were an unstoppable force from the first whistle on Saturday, using their strength and unpredictability to defeat Red Cliffs at Quandong Park.
The Demons hit the court with fire, keeping poised to create an early lead against the Tigers.
The young but experienced side were up nine goals by the end of the first quarter.
From there, the scores continued to climb as Mildura’s shooters remained accurate and steady in goals.
Even after a last-quarter push from Red Cliffs, where they scored six more goals than their opponents, it was too late and the Demons took home the win, 54-34.
Mildura co-coach Jess McNamara, who had a stellar game in the ring, said it was an “extremely good” game from both teams, especially in the heat.
“It was competitive, they were coming at us hard the whole time,” she said.
“We definitely couldn’t leave any room for movement, that’s for sure.”
McNamara said despite leading the whole game, her girls didn’t focus on the score.
“We don’t really look at it as a lead,” she said.
“We look at it like every quarter is 0-0 no matter what, whether we are up by five or ten or down by whatever.”
Red Cliffs coach Chantal Allford described Mildura as playing “eloquently” and was astonished at how well they have performed.
She said she was very proud of her Tiger girls for coming up against them and doing so well.
“I think our girls did a really good job of stepping up,” she said.
“Every week we are stepping up and to go down the way we did to the second on the ladder team, I think they did a really good job.
“The intensity was there.”
Allford recognised that the girls had worked better at the end of the game compared to the start and said it would be something they work on.
“We did let it slip a little in that first quarter, we just need to do a little work on that but other than that,” she said.
“To come up and win the last quarter by six goals was absolutely impressive.
“They are getting better and better every week.”
Allford recognised the work of midcourters Jacqulyn Bell and Lola O’Connor.
“They put a lot of pressure through the court,” she said.
“For Jac to play such a massive role over the whole game was amazing.”
Best for Mildura were Ally Leng and Katelyn Challis.
Best for Red Cliffs were O’Connor and Bell.
– Sarah Buchecker
Roos bound out of blocks
A BLISTERING start allowed defending champions Wentworth to secure a 53-28 victory over Irymple at George Gordon Oval.
The Roos bounded out of the blocks by scoring the first 10 goals of the game, and taking a 19-2 quarter-time lead, attacking ruthlessly and pouncing on the few errors the Irymple actually made.
While there was an air of inevitability regarding the result, the young Swallows showed brilliant character to go with the ladder leaders for the rest of the game, aside from a late flurry of goals conceded.
Wentworth coach Amanda Edwards and Liz Rowe were hard to stop in attack once again, Kelsey Cameron was an energetic force at WA, while Ashlee Cameron pulled the strings at WD and then centre in the absence of the injured Christie Becker.
A Grade debutant Lola McInerny also impressed in defence, with the 16-year-old slotting in alongside Natalie Vercher and Courtney Wakefield in the second half.
For Irymple, Shakara Delcastgene led the way through the centre, McKenzie Ryan impressed when switched into attack after quarter time, and Lilly Droffelaar showed some fight in defence when brought off the bench.
Edwards said post-game there are still areas of improvement for her side, and they were prepared for the young Irymple outfit to throw everything at them.
“Our first and fourth quarters were good, it was a bit scrappier in the second and third quarters but we expected Irymple to come out hard today,” she said.
“They’ve got really great juniors and they were really competitive with us today, but I’m proud of the girls efforts today, everyone who came on did their job.
“We talk about it a lot, making sure we get a really good start because we want to get that roll on early. An amazing first quarter by the girls, keeping a team as good as they are to two goals in the opening quarter was really good.”
Edwards said there were some errors to be corrected despite their unbeaten record in 2023.
“It was probably just our own little errors, things we can revisit and work on, nothing that we can’t improve on,” she said.
“We’ve been really lucky to be playing some good four quarter netball, today it was two and two, but there’s room for improvement and that’s a good thing, we want that.”
Edwards praised debutant McInerny for her performance when presented the opportunity.
Late in the game, Rowe (ankle) and Wakefield (elbow) both came to the bench and will be monitored during the week.
-Mitch Rodd
Gritty Imps ground Magpies
A GRITTY defensive effort by Imperials saw the hosts emerge with a 41-29 victory over Merbein and keep their hopes of a finals berth alive at the Brian Weightman Oval courts.
Led by defenders Caitlyn Wood and Meg McManus, Imps took the lead early and were never headed by fellow top-four hopefuls Merbein in unusually warm June conditions.
The win supplied the sixth-placed team with four points and moved it only two behind the fifth-placed Magpies as the battle for places in the playoffs have pretty much been narrowed down to six sides now.
Team Green coach Kym Mayne was naturally full of praise after her side’s strongdefensive effort.
“Our inner-circle defence got us a lot of rebounds and put a lot of pressure on their goalers, which had been happening to us in recent years,” Mayne said.
“We are in a good place for that position (top four) so every game counts. We have Mildura next week and everyone is looking forward to that match-up as it will certainly tell us where we are.”
Kia Scott had 33 goals for the victors while Emily Gray (13) led the way for the Magpies.
Newcomer Wood and McManus were chosen the hosts’ best while Johannah Gray and Stephanie White claimed the honours for the visitors.
-Tym Glaser
