Whangara rebound

ON THE BALL: Whangara goal defence Tania Hill is on the ball for Whangara Old Girls, with Iriesha Hingston-Carrington, of YMP, in close attendance. Hill was outstanding in the Whangara victory over Waikohu last night. Picture by Paul Rickard

NETBALL

WHANGARA Old Girls bounced back big time and Ritana Senior A turned in another sterling performance in premier grade netball at the YMCA last night.

Whangara Old Girls were all over Claydens Waikohu and and beat them 52-37 in the Pak’nSave competition.

Up 18-10 at the end of the first quarter, Whangara led 31-20 at halftime and 41-33 at three-quartertime, limiting Waikohu to just four goals in the final 15 minutes.

Netball commentator Sherrill Beale said Whangara had worked on the errors that plagued them in their loss to Ritana Senior A last week.

“They came out firing,” she said.

“They were hunting the ball, pressuring the ball-carrier and working together to create turnovers.”

Beale said Waikohu tried various changes, but could not pull back the deficit.

“The whole Whangara team stepped up last night and they were hungry for this win.”

The links between the attacks were better and they moved the ball well, while defenders were out hunting the ball and backing each other up, she said.

“Tania Hill, at goal defence for Whangara, had another strong game and secured several intercepts.

“Goal attack Nadia Taare moved well in the goal circle and directed play.

“Waikohu had some passages of good play but were not consistent and made basic errors at times.

“Their goal keep, Panache Hale, played well, and moved around the goal circle collecting many tips and intercepts.”

In the other match last night, Ritana Senior A from Lytton High School pushed Taste One High School Old Girls all the way.

HSOG had a four-goal lead at the 15-minute mark (17-13), and kept it till halftime (29-26).

But in the third quarter, the students closed it up, and at three-quartertime it was locked up at 41-all.

HSOG had the better of the closing stages and won the match 55-50.

“It was a close game for the full hour and both teams gave a good display of netball,” Beale said.

“It was goal for goal in the last quarter, but HSOG managed to pull two goals ahead with five minutes to go and then edged slowly further ahead.

“The students definitely deserved the bonus point for their close loss.”

Beale said both teams played as a team so it was hard to pick out individuals.

“Both sides had players intercepting balls well and entertaining the crowd.

“Lots of ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ came from the stands.”