High school netballers make semi-finals of Scottish Schools Cup

The Anderson High School netball team is through to semi-finals of Scottish Schools Cup after winning two games last week. First the girls defeated Paisley Grammar School in the third round and then saw off Arbroath High School in the quarter-finals. The semi-finals will be held later this month.

Paisley 7, AHS 63

The first quarter started off fast with the AHS taking a quick lead through strong centre court play from Sophie-May Leyland and Allie Elphinstone, working well together to feed the ball in to shooters Debbie Smith and Claire Morris who were both on top form, rarely missing a shot.

At the defending end, Ann-Marie Kennerley, Emma Leask and Megan Keppie worked well together to hinder the Paisley attack which led to the AHS coming out of the first quarter with an 18-1 lead.

In the second quarter strong play from Paisley saw the shooters getting more chances in the circle. Sophie-May and Megan kept up a strong defence winning rebounds to pass out to wing defence Lauren Odie to get the ball up to Claire and Allie who continued to work hard to get the ball up court.

Superb movement from Debbie and Liza Fullerton saw the AHS keep their lead and the first half ended 33-6 to the Anderson girls.

The third quarter saw the AHS girls continue with their strong lead. The Paisley defence continued to work hard to try and prevent shooters Claire and Liza from getting the ball but with help from Lauren and Ann-Marie they managed to get the ball and shoot accurately from any position within the circle.

The Paisley goalkeeper worked hard and moved any rebounds she won up court to the attackers who worked hard but were hindered by the defence of Allie, Emma and Debbie who only allowed them to get one goal.

The Paisley girls continued fighting in the last quarter with strong play from their mid court players. Sophie-May and Megan continued to keep the ball away from the opposing shooters with help from Ann-Marie and Claire who played the ball up court to Allie and the shooters Debbie and Liza who were still shooting superbly to make the final score 63-7 in the AHS’s favour.
Arbroath 32, AHS 41

Both teams knew that if they lost this would be their last game of the competition. That meant the game started off with end-to-end play as both teams fought tirelessly for any loose balls.

Sophie-May Leyland and Allie Elphinstone worked tirelessly together to get the ball in to shooters Debbie Smith and Claire Morris.

The Arbroath defence didn’t make it easy for them though as they made some good interceptions and played any rebounds out of the circle and up the court.

Ann-Marie Kennerley, Emma Leask and Megan Keppie worked hard to prevent the Arbroath shooters from getting the ball as they were shooting accurately from the edges of the circle.

Taking advantage of some loose passes and interceptions, the Anderson girls took a nine-point lead at the end of the first quarter.

All was still to play for as the second quarter continued with more end to end play with Arbroath fighting to close the gap. Ann-Marie, Emma and Megan continued to work tirelessly in defence as the Arbroath attack linked well to get the ball into their shooters.

More strong centre court play from Sophie-May and Allie saw them working strongly together to get the ball in to Debbie and Claire who were continuously marked tightly by the opposing defence. By the end of the first half the AHS were winning by a narrow margin of five points.

The second half saw the gap become even closer as an injury caused Emma to have to switch with Megan and move back to goalkeeper. The Arbroath girls continued to link well together to get the ball to their shooters who rarely missed a shot.

There was two goals in it at one point before the AHS girls settled fully and strong attacking play from Sophie-May and Allie, with support from Ann-Marie, saw the ball being played smoothly up court.

The Arbroath defence still continued to make it very difficult for the ball to be played into the Anderson shooters but by some excellent movement from Debbie and Claire they managed to widen the gap and the game ended with a 41-32 victory.