College stayed unbeaten in the second round of Premier A netball on Saturday with a convincing 56-42 win against Physed B.
Both teams were looking to build on their victories from last week, College’s 60-51 win over South Pac and Physed B 54-50 over St Hilda’s.
It was an even start for both teams, moving the ball down court off their respective centre passes with ease.
A couple of turnovers caused by College were capitalised on and they began to build a lead which they held for the duration of the game.
The defence by Physed was very willing, led by their goal keep Anita van Den Beld, not allowing too much space for the College attackers, but College was still able to score.
The first quarter ended with College leading 17-10.
There was an even number of goals scored in the second quarter, but College still held a cushioning advantage on the scoreboard.
Turnovers from both teams were halting any prospective momentum. It was apparent that Physed looked better with the unstructured style of play for much of the second quarter than College did.
Halftime came with College up by 28-20. However, they were guilty of a lull in play just like the first quarter, allowing Physed to gain some momentum and movement on the scoreboard.
The defensive pair for Physed caused mayhem in the circle during the third quarter and snaffled plenty of rebounds.
A buffer of seven and eight goals held for College and the game entered a stable pattern for most of the third quarter with no-one able to break open the situation.
A couple of goals in the last few seconds for College stretched its lead to 10 goals.
It was 42-32 to College heading into the fourth and final quarter.
College came out in the final quarter with some real verve on the offensive table, and with the issue almost no longer in doubt, it displayed the confidence to finally be able to play with freedom.
The lead started to widen as the seconds ticked away and College took the win by 56-42.
It was a better outfit on the day but will be annoyed that at certain stages of the first half it lost focus and let Physed back into the contest.
It was interesting to note that both sides’ shooting circles shot at a 78% success rate. Crucially College had more attempts on goal.
College wing attack Abbey Johnston was tenacious on both defence and the feeding side of the ball throughout the whole game and continued to provide energy right to the dying stages.
The South Pacific Titans had a good victory over Otago Girls’, 62-49.
Physed A had a solid win over St Hilda’s 65-51.
Southern blitzed Physed C by 30 goals winning 62-32 and staying in first place on goal differential.
- By Jack Ward
