Northland netball: Fideliter 2 and WGHS in prem thriller

Northland Premier grade features some close matches.

RESULTS

Premier:

Body Trainer Fideliter 1 80 vs Huanui Silver 27
Manawanui White 58 vs Whangaruru 45
WGHS Snr 1 41 vs Fideliter 2 42

A run of nine goals forced Whangaruru into playing catch-up in its premier netball match against Manawanui White.

Manawanui White and Whangaruru Premiers were the first match of the evening on Friday and produced a high-energy, hard-fought match.

Whangaruru had a slow start to the game and, when Manawanui scored a run of nine goals at the end of the first quarter, it was always going to be up to Whangaruru to play catch-up.

Manawanui finished strongly winning 58 - 45.

Forced to make changes, Whangaruru had started putting some phases together and contested the final three quarters.

Morgan Taurua shot accurately at goal shoot.

Alexis Chapman playing at goal attack then goal defence worked hard, reading play and combining with Liahona Hebden at goal keep picking up a number of rebounds and intercepts.

Although they got within five goals, Whangaruru could not counter the strong defensive partnership of Caitlin Riedstra and Bella Drinnan and the accurate shooting from Jaelyn Walker and Sherryn Lefever.

Manawanui finished strongly winning 58 - 45.

Fideliter 2 and WGHS Snr 1 played an evenly contested game that could have gone either way and was the closest game thus far in the Premier competition.

The lead see-sawed throughout the whole game and the confidence and accuracy of the shooters for both teams kept the scores close.

WGHS's defence combination of Kelena Roughan at GD and Jessie Taylor at GK, as well as Baylie Drummond at WD in the second half, put pressure on the Fideliter shooters and forced errors.

Ultimately the difference between the teams were the "old heads" of both player/coaches Sharna May and Trina Henare for Fideliter 2, who managed to calm their young team-mates and play out the game just as WGHS was making a last attempt to take the lead late in the fourth quarter from being six down.

Fideliter 2 held on, winning the game 42-41.

The last game of the evening between Body Trainer Fideliter 1 and Huanui Silver was a one-sided affair that the experienced Fideliter team won easily.

Sade Langdon at WD for Fideliter had a strong game hunting the ball and forcing the pass from the Huanui girls, which was picked up and turned over by Jade Telfer at the back.

The quick play by Fideliter, which saw the ball repeatedly delivered to the shooter in two passes was almost uncontested by Huanui. Nevertheless Huanui didn't give up but it wasn't enough to be competitive. Fideliter 1 won 80-27.