Kinetics pip AHS to the post in netball’s top division

Kinetics had the narrowest of victories over AHS in the first division of the netball leagues last week, while Hotfooters and Da Hooligans were successful in divisions two and three respectively.

Division One
(Sponsored by SLNA)

Kinetics 36, AHS 34

Kinetics were awarded the first centre pass and got off to a furious start. Having not played for a few weeks, they were keen to gain maximum points.

Kinetics’ Fiona Shearer and Louise Fraser worked well together, managing to split the AHS defenders around the circle. Having been training earlier in the night, Sarah Grogan and Kirsti Leask had their eye in from the outset, failing to miss a goal-scoring opportunity. Kinetics pulled ahead 16-7 at the end of the first quarter.

The young AHS team returned to the court fired up and ready for action. Emma Leask and Sophie-May Leyland were using their long reach against the Kinetics shooters, making shooting opportunities more difficult. Rebounds were 50-50 and the youngsters’ height usually clinched it for AHS.

At the other end, Clare Morris and Debbie Smith were beginning to find their form. Not to be outshone, the Kinetics defence of Vaila Hough and Andrea Tait were working tirelessly, forcing the youngsters to shoot from afar. That ensured Hough and Tait picked up the rebounds, linking with Cheryl Simspon and Shearer to counter-attack back up the court.

Unfortunately, Kinetics lost Louise Fraser in the second quarter with an ankle injury. Kinetics reshuffled, bringing on Chloe Miller. Grogan moved to WA and Leask to GA. AHS took advantage of an unsettled spell for Kinetics, and squeezed back a few goals to bring the half time score to 23-18 in Kinetics’ favour.

AHS kept the pressure on Kinetics moving into the third quarter, when teams usually start to fatigue. Simpson, for Kinetics, switched to WA for a spell, and Ingrid Nicol was introduced at WD. Both worked well in the mid-court, with Shearer supporting at both ends.

The AHS line-up remained unchanged, however, and their age and fitness certainly tested their older counterparts.

Not to be outplayed, Kinetics upped their game, as they, at times, outran the youngsters. Allie Elphinstone and Megan Keppie were working hard in mid-court, trying to use shorter, harder passes, to prevent interceptions. Both teams pressed forward for more goals and the third quarter finished with the gap remaining unchanged – Kinetics still five goals ahead.

With all to play for, AHS resumed with a new formation. Leyland had changed to centre to try to inject some pace into the remaining 12 minutes. Simspon and Shearer did a grand job of blocking Leyland and Elphinstone off the circle. Likewise, Tait and Hough were tight on in the AHS shooting circle.

Kinetics did get rattled for a short time, before they got their act together and refocused. Kinetics were aware that the gap was closing in on them. They made sure they took all their chances, and Grogan and Leask won rebounds. These were converted into goals thankfully, as the clock ran down and the final score saw Kinetics victorious by two goals.

Best on the night, in what was a fantastic game, was defender Megan Keppie for AHS. Despite a good Kinetics team performance, it was the consistency of Sarah Grogan who outshone her teammates.

Division Two
(Ocean Kinetics)

Hootfooters 44, Supernova 24

Nova opened the scoring and took a three-goal lead early on mainly due to several over ambitious final balls being wasted by Hotfooters. However once settled, they began to capitalise on mid-court mistakes by Nova and moved to an 11-7 lead after 15 minutes of play.

The second period saw Nova working well in attack with Liz Haining feeding a long high ball into Marianne Williamson, causing problems for Hotfooters defence. The score stood at 19-13 for Hotfooters at half time.

The third quarter saw the youngsters really begin to move at speed on the court with Lauren Odie in full flight and dominating the mid-court. Hannah Manson and Iona Holmes also played superb supporting roles in attack and defence and, along with Liza Fullerton and Haley Tulloch netting all their shots, Hotfooters increased the lead to 33-17.

Credit must go to Nova who finished strongly in the last quarter, as Emma Rose and Jenny Wylie began to close down the space in the circle, restricting shooting opportunities for Fullerton and Tulloch.

Lauren Odie was player of the match for Hotfooters and Emma Rose for Supernova.

Wastside v Unst

The game was postponed due to weather.

Division Three
(Evelyn Rae)

Scallywags 25, Da Hooligans 26

Due to the game prior being cancelled because of the bad weather, both teams opted to play their match earlier and Scallywags went on to win the first centre pass which signalled the start of a very close game.

Da Hooligans were quick to settle with accurate passing through their centre court in to their shooters who despite being marked closely were finding their shots on target.

Not long into this first quarter Scallywags lost Freda Leask through injury and Cyndi Pottinger replaced her as GA. Scallywags fought back and accurate shooting from both Pottinger and Anne-Marie Robinson saw them finish 7-6 ahead.

As the second quarter got under way Scallywags were still trying to find their form and were losing their passes to Da Hooligans who were working well together. Great linking play from Karis Irvine through to Zoe Irvine and in to Rhea Kay and Lara Kay who were finding the net made Dana Stewart and Laura Saunders work tirelessly in defence to intercept their rebounds.

However, Scallywags’ Gwen Malcolmson and Meg Laurenson were linking well in their centre court and providing support around their attacking circle for their shooters Robinson and Pottinger, who were also shooting accurately. As the half time whistle went it was Da Hooligans who went into the third quarter leading 15-12.

Scallywags saw changes to their team at half time with Andrea Henderson coming on at WA and Meg Laurenson moving to WD.

Scallywags were now finding their form and producing some great end-to-end play with accurate shooting from Robinson and Pottinger, making Da Hooligans’ defence work hard to intercept any rebounds.

Da Hooligans were also playing well with fast, accurate passing through their centre court into their shooters who were on form with their shooting. As the whistle went to end this quarter Da Hooligans were leading 22-19.

In the last quarter Scallywags had found their form and knew they had everything to play for if they wanted to win. This resulted in a very fast, end-to-end match by both teams which saw Scallywags close the gap on Da Hooligans with Pottinger and Robinson finding their shots on goal and bringing the score to 25-25.

With the last few minutes left both teams were determined to come out as the winner but it was a goal from Da Hooligans that sealed the game as the final whistle went.

Players of the match were Anne-Marie Robinson for Scallywags and Zoe Irvine for Da Hooligans.