"I felt sorry for our girls. They were so tired after their 5am start today," NGHS coach Annemarie Kupa said referring to her team's trip to Palmerston North earlier in the day where they beat PNGHS 28-27.
"Our girls were so tired in the second half. Four players were unavailable so we only had eight which meant we couldn't rotate and we ran out of legs. We targeted Central as a win and if we'd had all of our team we'd have got it but everyone worked hard."
Shield round winners Otane Thirsty Whale welcomed promotion-relegation game winners HHSOG Proactive Huias back to the big time with a 55-34 win. Otane coach Tammy Kupa gave her bench players plenty of time and was impressed with how centre Bridget De Latour, goal attack Hannah Winnie and wing defence Poppi Tucker-Low stepped up. Defenders Tajalee Stephenson and Alex Balhorn were rock-like and goal shoot Ashlee Wilson was consistent.
"I was super proud of our girls' gutsy effort. We took a lot of ball and we also got some good lessons which we can learn from," Huias coach Rebecca Martin said.
Rebecca van Rooyens, who had stints at goal attack and goal shoot, was the Huias player of the match. Hannah Russell was busy in the wing defence and goal defence roles for a side which lost experienced defender Catrina O'Connell to a shoulder injury. Otane led 11-7 after the first quarter and 25-11 going into the third quarter.
Defending champions Outkast Optimise Physio recorded a convincing 42-25 win against HHSOG Spicers Keas. Outkast manager Lauren Marsh said while the start was polished and the finish convincing, the middle stages of their display were messy when they tried some different options and things didn't work out as planned.
"But these are the type of games to try those things in case injuries force us to use those combinations in the future," Marsh explained.
Vanna Sullivan, who played the first three quarters at wing attack and the last at goal shoot, was Outkast's player of the match. Goal defence Amanda Palmer and goal keep Barbara Thompson ruled the defensive circle.
Outkast had a 71 per cent shooting success rate. Goal shoot Corra Quinn sunk 37 of her 43 attempts for an 86 per cent success rate.
Keas coach Heather Wilkie said her troops made a slow start and still have the shooting woes (just 40 per cent last night) which proved their downfall during the Shield round but they drew the second quarter and won the third.
"When you are a non-training team, you take those little victories."
Donna Fountaine and Rebecca Cameron had some memorable patches in the Keas defensive circle. Centre Erin Gladstone was also full of authority.
Outkast led 23-10 at halftime and 29-19 after the third quarter.
Beaten finalists in the Shield round, All In Elusive, returned to the winning path in style with a 73-34 win against HGHS Senior A. All In captain Candis Timms said her side took the opportunity to give all of the roster plenty of game time and everyone performed well.
"We're continuing to build but at the same time there are some talented up and coming players in that Hastings team which was stronger than the score suggests."
HGHS Senior A coach Amanda Petera said her troops missed the services of four key players. Shooter Matariki Manaena and defender Kathleen Nahora were playing for the school's senior A basketball team in their clash with Napier Girls' High School and Myer Crawford-Pakoti and Summer Rose Taylor were both sick.
"While our driving to the ball is still a big work on and I was really pleased with how they played under those circumstances."
Fifteen-year-old Liana Mikaele-Tu'u shone at both ends of the court during her shifts in the goal shoot and goal defence positions. Frankie Stafford was a workaholic in both the goal defence and wing defence positions and Raven Petuha was a solid operator in the midcourt.
All In led 35-22 at halftime and 58-28 going into the final quarter.
