Premier 1 games in the early part of the Championship Round produced expected results given team seedings going into the round. 

Kereru A had a resounding win against St Nicholas B with quarter scores of 17 – 12, 22 – 7, 24 – 10 and 18 – 7 to take out their match 81 – 36.  Credit to St Nicholas who just never gave up throughout the match but struggled to get the ball into their shooters at times with strong defence being applied by Kereru defenders Anna O’Dell and Kayla Williams.   

Both early games were disrupted just at the half way point due to a maintenance issue at the stadium, however when this match resumed St Nicholas look to be rejuvenated and picked up their game pace, but Kereru kept picking off lots of easy turnovers which were well converted by their shooters Juliana Naoupo and  Claudia Lewis.  St Nicholas used the speed of the ball to attack Kereru but to no avail.  The game did lose its way somewhat in the final quarter as the score-line widened, and some amazing defensive intercepts by Kereru defender Kali Zygmant assisted her team to skip away to secure the 81 – 36 win.    

Technical went out 17 – 10 at the first quarter break in their match against St Nicholas A however that gap closed somewhat in the 2nd quarter.  Jess Prosser at Goal Shooter for Technical slotted 43/48 and was ably assisted by Tiana Placid 17/21.  Not to be outdone at the other end of the court St Nicholas experienced Goal Shooter Sarah Martyn secured 31/34 of her team’s 47 goals.  St Nicholas applied a tight defence throughout the court which forced Technical into a lot of short fast passes to find their way through the mid court.  Technical took out the 3rd quarter 16-12 but the final quarter ended 13 all.  Despite the score-line it was a well contested match, with very good netball skills on display and played in great spirit throughout.

Lincoln University were up against a very competitive Kereru B team in this match. The first quarter was slow to gain momentum but the pace picked up in the 2nd quarter and Lincoln went into the half time break 28 – 22 ahead.  Again the shooters were stand-outs in this game with Lincoln’s fast moving and deceptive mover Bella James landing 34/37 all the while under tight pressure from Kereru’s Goal Keeper Jen Naoupo and Kereru’s Liv Clark, a much more ‘holding shooter’ slotting 46/49.  Completely different styles of goalers but both equally successful for their respective teams. Kereru proved that being patient with the ball on attack and holding space on defence created opportunities to pick up some classy turnovers at times, however then a number of unforced errors gave Lincoln several gains especially in the 3rd quarter. Kereru remained on task to take out the final quarter 15-12, but not quite enough to topple Lincoln who ran out the match 54 – 50.  

Premier 2 results:

Technical B 61 v Villa Maria 51
Kia Toa A 48 St Margarets A 34
Saints A 63 UC A 50

Premier 1 statistics:

Lincoln University A 54 (Bella James GS 34/37, Kate Grant GA 20/27) def Kereru B 50 (Liv Clark GS 46/49, Fiona Sutherland GA1 4/5, Courtney Haberfield GA2 0/1). Quarter scores: 14-12, 28-22, 42-35, 54-50.

Technical A 60 (Jess Prosser GS 43/48, Tiana Placid GA 17/21) def St Nicholas A 47 (Sarah Martyn GS 31/34, Kerri-Ann Sinclair GA1 8/12, Nicole Miekle GA2 8/10). Quarter scores: 17-10, 31-22, 47-24, 60-47.

Kereru A 81 (Juliana Naoupu GS 36/45, Claudia Lewis GA 45/51) def St Nicholas B 36 (Bianca Iggo GS 20/32, Nicole Meikle GA 16/22). Quarter scores: 17-12, 39-19, 63-29, 81-36.

Article added: Wednesday 25 July 2018