Loungers overcome Kiwis in thrilling netball encounter

IN A VERY close contest, Loungers defeated Kiwis in netball’s Division One while in Division Two there were wins for Wastside and Mishaps and in Division Three for the Ness.

Division One

Kiwis 30, Loungers 32

As anticipated, this was a very close tussle with little separating the two teams. Loungers got off to a flyer and were three goals up before Kiwis “woke and smelled the coffee”. This early advantage was to set the tone for the remainder of the game. Twice Kiwis levelled the game but never secured the lead. Loungers remained three goals up at the end of the first quarter.

Kiwis began the second quarter with renewed determination and the run of play seemed to be heading in favour of the All Blacks levelling at 14-14.

Loungers dug deep and secured two quick goals in the dying seconds for them to retain a two goal advantage at half time. With no substitutions from either side, the battle resumed. Again Kiwis seemed to have the upper hand and levelled the match but with good concen­tration and teamwork, Loungers made sure that they remained on top. Going into the last quarter the score favoured Loungers 24-22. Kiwis threw everything they had left at their opponents but Loungers finally won the match 32-30. Loungers had reorganised their team for this match with Hazel Uren stepping into the C position, so as their regular C could play in defence due to a team shortage. As a result, Hazel had a cracking game and was best for Loungers on the night. For Kiwis, Julie Kirkness was her usual nippy self, feeding hard and accurate passes into her shooters, earning herself Kiwis’ player of the match.

Whalsay v Kinetics

This game was cancelled as Whalsay couldn’t field a team. Kinetics were awarded the points.

Division Two

Da Hooligans 23, Wastside 47

Both teams settled quickly and played good quality netball. The first quarter was evenly matched with good flowing passes and accurate shooting from both sides, ending with the Wastside leading 9-8. The second quarter saw the Wastside build quite a substantial lead, 24-12, through excellent play. They scored consistently from their centre passes. Wastside’s Alison Hunter and Erin Morrison were quick in defence to snatch Da Hooligans’ rebounds. They linked well with their mid court players who sent the ball swiftly back to their shooters, Mhari Moncrieff and Catherine Henry, who were guar­anteed to score. Da Hooligans continued to fight hard with Zoe Irvine challenging in all areas of play and Lara Kay putting up a good fight against a very strong Mhari Moncrieff. They kept their spirits high and played well as a team. Both teams made changes in the third quarter and Da Hooligans were unfortunate to lose Tammi Anderson GK to injury. In the third and final quarters play continued to be of a high standard from both teams. The Wastside sustained their attack and were able to capitalise on some unlucky misses from Da Hooligans.

This was a very entertaining match played in good spirits and Da Hooligans were unfortunate not to pick up a point.

Players of the match were, for the Wastside, Mhari Moncrieff for her shooting and inspiring team play and Catherine Henry for her extremely high quality shooting. For Da Hooligans Zoe Irvine for her outstanding play throughout and Rhea Kay for her superb shooting.

Mishaps 38, McEwans 35

Both sides started strongly, and it was quickly evident that this was going to be a very close and high scoring game. Accurate centre court passing and shooting from both teams saw the Whalsay team sneak ahead at the end of first quarter 11-8.

Both teams returned to court focused. Mishaps found their stride with Anne-Marie Goudie (C) and Suzanne Manson (WA) finding space and feeding great balls into the shooting duo of Alicia Hunter and Marie Manson, who were con­sistently netting goals. The passing between Alicia and Marie was particularly good, with both players intuitively finding the other and putting themselves in good scoring positions. At the other end of court Elaine Jamieson and Marie Moar adapted their style of defending and were forcing some errors in the McEwans attack. This was much needed as Joanne Stewart and Alison Williamson were rarely missing their target. Mishaps had the better of play this quarter and nudged ahead 20-19 by half time.

The second half started very much as the first half had ended, other than for a few position swit­ches, some of which were needed to ensure neither team had players who were tiring as small errors were capitalised on, and neither team could afford to lose the opportunity to convert a centre pass into a goal. Again a very close quarter which saw Mishaps increase their lead to 31-27.

The first five minutes of the final quarter saw Mishaps making some passing errors. Shona Moncrieff (Mc­Ewans) was defending particu­larly well, and at the other end of court Joanne Stewart (McEwans) had found another gear, getting the better of her opponent and finding space in the shooting semi-circle. Joanne was receiving some excellent balls from Maggie Kay Irvine (C) and Eileen Robertson (WA), which she was quickly converting into goals. At this stage it looked as though McEwans were making a late comeback, but fortunately for the Lerwick side they managed to recompose themselves, and netted some fine goals in the closing min­utes to come out victorious 38-35.

This very close game was played in a healthy, competitive and fair nature, and was well umpired by Ruth Shearer and Andrea Jeromson (assisted by a junior player). Player of the match for McEwans was Maggie Kay Irvine who was valuable and dependable in centre court and for Mishaps all of the attacking players stood out because they worked together very effect­ively bringing out the best in each others game, but it was shooting star Alicia Hunter who was chosen as player of the match.

Division Three

Ness 22, Scalloway Juniors 16

The game started evenly with both teams determined to take an early lead. Scalloway Juniors made some good passes through the mid-court into their circle where shooters Cheryl Goodlad and Julie Brown used the opportunity to take the lead 6-4 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter saw Ness settle and begin to find their feet with shooters Elizabeth Williamson and Caroline Wood working well together to even the score 10-10.

The third quarter saw some good passing by both teams with plenty of end-to-end play. The quarter finished with Ness extending their lead to 18-13.

In the final quarter Scalloway Juniors were determined to get the goals needed and close the gap. Centre Karen Banister and WA Rowan Nicolson linked well to forward the ball to their shooters but Ness’ defending duo of Gina Scanlon and Vaila Irvine limited the number of opportunities to score.

Ness had brought on Rachel Adamson as GS whose accurate shooting helped increase their lead to win the match 22-16.

Players of the match were the two centres, Karen Banister for Scal­loway Juniors and Hazel Bairnson for Ness.