Netball: Whangaruru earn Premier promotion

The latest Northland netball action. PHOTO/GETTY IMAGES

Promotion relegation or the Premier and Premier Reserve grades took place n Friday night with Wāhine Toa playing off against Whangaruru Prem 2.

Wāhine Toa, playing to secure their hopes of staying in the premier grade, had a great match on their hands only to have lost in the final minutes by one goal 31-30.

It was a fairly close affair for the first quarter with the scores even.

Both teams keeping to their starting lineups for the next, allowed Wāhine Toa to slowly build on their game with some strong feeding into goal shooter Kahikatia Edwards with the support of goal attack Maria Dick, both having a consistent shooting performance.

However, not to be outdone, Whangaruru were up for the challenge.

Gaining some turnover possession early in the second quarter, Whangaruru were able to play the ball safely through the court to the capable shooting combination of Caysha Kingi and young student Sophy Tua-Martin.

Wāhine Toa managed to keep ahead with a two-goal lead at the halftime break.

Changes were made from both teams for the second half.

Basic errors started creeping in from both teams, with pressure over every ball.

Fair contesting of the ball during the game made for what was going to be a another close game for Wāhine Toa. Ball security, slow steady play and teamwork was going to win at the end of the day.

Again time was not on Wāhine Toa's side, ending their Premier grade status for 2018.