There was no disgrace in defeat for St Matthew's Collegiate on the second day of play at the national secondary schoolgirls netball finals in Timaru.
They battled bravely despite losing 22-37 to Ronalli College and 16-29 to Verdon Collge.
A slow start saw St Matthew's trailing Ronalli by seven goals at the
end of the first quarter but they recovered to win the second quarter 9-7 through good drives onto the ball and accurate passing.
They also managed to interrupt Ronalli's flow of ball through the midcourt.
The second half saw Ronalli apply greater pressure on St Matthew's and the errors they made were capitalised on by their opposition, Ronalli pulling away for a 37-22 victory. Wing attack Renee Scarlett was a steadying influence in the midcourt for St Matthew's
Against the Robyn Broughton-coached Verdon College side St Matthew's took time to adapt to the fast pace of the game.
Coach Jo Booth made a number of positional changes with wing defence Harriet Somerville moving to centre and Kate Monaghan coming on at wing defence.
And with the shooters struggling to find the goal Sophie Ross was introduced at goal shoot in the last quarter and made an immediate impact, creating space for the feeders and coping well with the classy Verdon defence.
St Matthew's outscored Verdon 7-6 in the last quarter but lost the game 16-29.
