"It's a really good result to only go down by one," Annemarie said, lamenting minor errors that predictably got to her youthful side."
She said NGHS, who shot at 78 per cent overall compared with Otane's 55 per cent, would grow and learn from it.
Annemarie took heart in her young charges, saying they had enough depth and versatility to slip on bibs in just about any position to do the job.
It wasn't easy for her to cross the floor from Otane to NGHS where daughter Parris Petera plays.
"It was really, really hard after 15 years with Otane but it was time for me to move to my girl," she said, seeing NGHS as another challenge.
She said the game endorsed their qualities and that NGHS weren't out of their league at all.
Annemarie singled out GD Jadyi Taylor-Chaffey, WA daughter Petera and GS Janaya Preece, a basketballer, who shot at 92 per cent on debut.
Her player/coach sister, Tammy, who is GA/WA, said the game posed some interesting questions, family ties aside.
"She [niece Petera] was trash talking leading up to the game," she said with a laugh.
Tammy revealed Petera attended Otane trainings as well as the NGHS ones because Force coach Jewels Falcon coached both sides.
"I don't think it'll change and we hope to play each other in the finals, actually," she said, agreeing it would be great to see if fitness or experience would prevail.
Tammy hailed GK Alex Balhorn, GD Briar Chalmers and WD Kate Jefferd for putting up the shutters.
"If we had finished a little better on attack we would have had a better score line."
Defending champions Outkast Optimise Physio also didn't have it all their way against Hastings Girls' High School, pipping them 34-31 after leading 11-18, trailing 14-18 and were still lagging at 22-24.
Outkast manager Lauren Marsh said they knew they had to have top fitness against the schoolgirls.
"We sure know what we need to work on for next week," said Marsh of the Jeda Bartlett-coached side.
Marsh said the midcourt and shooters needed better cohesiveness in relaying the ball through the court. She singled out GA Maddie Pakoti as sharp, Shyan Murphy adroit as centre and so was WD Julie Varcoe.
Akin to Otane, Outkast shot at 63 per cent overall (34 from 54 attempts) compared with HGHS' 72 per cent (31/43).
HGHS assistant coach/manager Abby Hall (nee Breakwell) said they rotated players astutely when the need arose.
"If we saw that a player needed to come off for a break we rotated them well by putting some fresh legs on," said Hall who last Super 6 season captained HHSOG Proactive Huias who were relegated this year.
"We are rapt to come out in our first game to have that result against the defending champions."
Hall said a pivotal point was to switch their GS Liana Mikaele-Tu'u to goal keep where she slotted in with aplomb alongside GD Kathleen Nahora and WD Summer Rose Taylor.
"We're a really proud of the new Hastings Girls' team and the start we've made is fantastic," she said.
In the other games, Central Sports Vet Services HB overwhelmed Havelock North House of Travel Kauri 53-35 while All In Elusive thumped Hastings Girls' High School Old Girls' Spicers Keas 68-25 (19-6, 39-11, 56-18).
All In coach Charissa Barham said the yawning reflected on their ability to shoot at 69 per cent overall (68/98) compared with promoted Keas' 27 per cent (25/53).
"In saying that I have a young girl in goal shoot, Imke [Kitchen], who if she misses gets a rebound so that's why it was so high," Barham said of Kitchen who shot at 74 per cent.
She said the youngster was on the code's National Hunt For Height Programme and has showed admirable pliability in her resolve.
"She's the tallest in the programme and has shown a lot of resilience in the programme so far and she's a really neat kid."
Having established clarity in rapport both on and off court, Barham said it was about pushing the boundary of 40-minute games into 60-minute ones.
"I'm trying to simulate that in training but it's about consistency and perseverance," she said, revealing they had only stuck to their blueprint for around 50 per cent of the game.
While Barham appreciated it was tough to maintain the intensity in the face of a blowout, she emphasised the significance of accountability because that complacency could change in the blink of an eye against stiffer oppositions.
She also lauded a Taranaki recruit, Brigitte Hollander, as solid and reliable after starting her at GK, switching to GD and then shuffling her to centre.
Hollander found traction with Natalie Brown, Sonee-Lee Waere and Deanna Muir on defence in a team that has potential to grow.
Central Sports captain Kirby Heath said while it was a sound victory they intended to return to the drawing board to fine tune the machine.
"I think there's always more to improve on but it's a team game so I think everyone did well to step up from the grading outside and decided to really put their best foot forward," said Heath.
The goal attack also hailed their great depth from the bench while defenders worked laboriously.
GK Bree White anticipated and put her arms up well while last-quarter GS Nancy Rakete-Stones added impetus to their attacking circle.
"Every game is a tough one so we're going into everyone with the mind set that we're going to play our own game and play hard to win that ball," said Heath.
