Anderson High School netball girls win Scottish Cup

The Anderson High School netball team defeated Holy Cross High School from Hamilton in the final to win the Open Gold Scottish Schools Netball Cup at Meadowbank Stadium yesterday.

AHS 43, Holy Cross 29

AHS won the first centre and the ball was played end to end before some superb movement from Sophie-May Leyland and Claire Morris who fed shooters Debbie Smith and Liza Fullerton to start the scoring.

Fluent movement from the Holy Cross centre court players meant the ball was played up to their shooters often but excellent defending from Allie Elphinstone, Emma Leask and Megan Keppie forced their shooters to shoot from far out, causing rebounds which were mostly picked up by Emma. By the end of the first quarter the AHS had a nice lead of 10-4.

In the second quarter the Holy Cross girls fought back hard with excellent movement. They played the ball accurately past Emma and Megan in to their shooters who had found their form and rarely missed.

As the gap closed and Holy Cross became equal to the AHS girls they settled into their form and well-timed movement allowed Ann-Marie Kennerley to work well to support Sophie and Claire as they made sure of every pass in to the shooters.

The Holy Cross defenders did not make it easy for Debbie and Liza but more excellent movement meant the ball was played in nicely and converted into goals. The AHS girls settled and managed to get their lead back and the first half ended 16-13 in their favour.

The AHS girls finally settled and found their form in the third quarter. Holy Cross never gave up their fight though as whenever the ball was played in to their shooters they rarely missed. However, Emma and Megan rarely gave them any chance to do this and the ball was intercepted and converted into goals.

Excellent centre court play from Allie, Sophie-May and Claire meant the Holy Cross mid-court players struggled to get the ball up court. As the ball was played up court superb movement and shooting from Debbie and Liza led to AHS increasing the lead further to 31-22.

The last quarter continued in the same manner as the third but Holy Cross never gave up, making sure to mark Debbie and Liza tightly to make it difficult for Sophie-May and Claire to get the ball in to them. This didn’t hinder them though as with extra support from Allie the ball was played in and the shooters rarely missed a shot.

Holy Cross continued to work hard to play the ball up court but with Emma and Megan causing forced errors they found it difficult to play the ball to their shooters who were shooting accurately from the edge of the circle given the chance.

As the AHS increased their lead it was obvious that Holy Cross weren’t going to catch up and the game ended with a 14-goal gap. Credit must be given to Holy Cross as they made sure it wasn’t an easy game and they never gave up.

After the game there was a presentation to all the teams that had taken part in the four gold finals, with the silver finals having all been played earlier on in the day.

Medals and trophies were awarded to every team in the gold section from first years to the open final which the AHS won. A special mention must also be given to Sophie-May Leyland who was awarded the match ball for being the player of the day.