Netball: All In Elusive pip defending champs

It's Mine: HHSOG Keas goal defence Rebecca Cameron beats HGHS goal shoot Lydia Tahau to the ball during the Keas win last night. Photo/Paul Taylor

All In Elusive coach Charissa Barham heaped kudos on her promising goal shoot Imke Kitchin after last night's upset win against defending champions Outkast Optimise Physio in the Hawke's Bay Premier Club Netball League.

"For a 16-year-old to shoot 84 per cent [41 from 49] when being marked by one of the best defenders in the comp in Amanda Palmer I couldn't have asked for anything more from Imke," Barham said after her unbeaten team's 42-36 Super 8 Round Two victory in Taradale's Pettigrew-Green Arena.

Kitchin needed a top performance as All In Elusive goal attack Kia Diamond played the entire game with a suspected broken finger collected in an indoor netball fixture earlier in the day. Wing defence Deanna Muir was another to shine in a consistent team effort from Barham's troops.

"We've worked hard on our team culture this season because I believe it's culture that drives performance and consistency comes from a good team culture," Barham said.
"In tight 60 minutes games like this you have to build and grind it out and we did that," she added.

Her team trailed 19-18 at halftime but won the third quarter by three and were ahead by two going into the final quarter. Outkast player-coach Jeda Bartlett said she was happy with the improvement displayed by her troops considering they were playing without a couple of regular first string attacking circle players.

Regular defender Corra Quinn, 18, moved to goal shoot and succeeded with 26 of her 30 attempts for an 87 per cent success rate. Regular wing attack Vanna Sullivan played goal attack and 16-year-old wing attack Shyan Murphy was a workaholic for the entire game.

"Compared with last week there were lots of positives. It's better to have a loss now than in the second round and we were a little under done after not having to play in the grading games," Bartlett added.

The other early encounter saw unbeaten Otane Force Thirsty Whale beat Havelock North House of Travel Kauri 54-30. Force player-coach Tammy Kupa said her troops displayed vast improvement on their round one outing and she was particularly impressed with their patience.

Exprienced centre Becky Kupa marshalled the attack well. Goal defence Briar Chalmers and goal keep Alex Balhorn were rock-like on defence. Kauri coach Angela Harvey praised her team's improvement and said midcourters Saphire Mullany and Nikayla Lambert operated well.

"Next week we will aim to connect the dots a lot more to make things smoother but we played very well in patches tonight."

Central Sports Vet Services HB maintained their unbeaten run with a 42-35 win against Napier Girls' High School Senior A. Central co-captain and midcourter Anna Cudby said it was a massive team effort from her side.

Former Physique player Anna Parsons was outstanding in both of the defensive circle roles. Midcourter Keryn Marshall was a tireless worker on defence.

"Napier Girls played some good netball and never felt like we definitely had the win until the final whistle. It's going to be a pretty even competition this year," Cudby added.

"It was our game for the taking ... we just missed too many attempts at goal," NGHS coach Annemarie Kupa said.

Valentine Kahukura and Jaimee Tapine combined well in the defensive circle for an NGHS team which missed the services of the versatile Jaydi Taylor-Chaffey who was in Fiji with the New Zealand Maori Secondary Schools team.

League newcomers HHSOG Spicers Keas did well to pip Hastings Girls' High School Senior A 41-40 after leading 21-19 at halftime and trailing 30-27 after the third quarter.

"We did it hard and it took a really good effort by our defensive trio," Keas coach Heather Wilkie said.

Wing defence Tegan Mansfield was outstanding. The cohesion between goal defence Rebecca Cameron and goal keep Donna Fountaine was superb and goal attack Jaicee Reed shot well.

"It was nice to have a win after last week's hiding," Wilkie added referring to their 68-25 loss to All In.

Liana Mikaele-Tu'u produced some spectacular plays at both ends of the court for HGHS.
"We just have to work on our control and display a bit more patience," HGHS coach Amanda Petera said.