Netball: Premiers start with high scores and shock win

Whangaruru's Morgan Taurua shoots for goal while being defended by Whangarei Girls' High School's Teina Rihari. Photo / Judy MacDonald

The first week of the preliminary round for Premier netball saw those highest ranked playing those lowest ranked in the grade.

As a result there were a couple of high scores posted and one upset win.

The best game of the night was between the young Whangarei Girls' High School (WGHS) Senior 1 team and Whangaruru.

There was nothing between the teams in the first quarter with Whangaruru narrowly in the lead by two goals.

By halftime, however, WGHS had pulled ahead to lead by 10 goals.

The third quarter went Whangaruru's way and they were able to claw back a few goals to trail by seven.

WGHS won the final quarter by a goal to win by eight goals, the final score being 55-47.

Bailey Goodman of WGHS was strong at goal shoot and tall under pressure. In defence Teina Rihari at goal keep put in a solid effort in her first full hour game.

For Whangaruru, the defence combination of Sue-Ann Nesbit at goal defence and Liahona Hebden at goal keep worked well.

In their game against YHPJ Marist, Manawanui White won each quarter comprehensively.

At halftime they led by 20 goals and at final whistle they were ahead by 41 goals.

Manawanui's Jaelyn Walker had a particularly strong game at goal shoot and combined well with Grace Cooper at goal attack.

Rhiannon Reti at wing attack showed good positioning, lovely vision into the circle and was well supported by the other mid-court players.

On defence, Kaea Robinson at goal defence got some amazing intercepts through reading the game well.

For Marist, Alice Dombroski at centre was the stand out player and applied immense pressure throughout the court.

In defence Erin Gunson at goal defence and Bella Drinnan at goal keep were kept busy and combined well.

For Fideliter 1, Kacey Potae at goal defence had an exceptional game and disrupted the Manawanui attack to get turnover ball time and time again.

Lara Cooper at centre showed speed, agility and she assisted in obtaining turnover ball and delivering clean ball to her shooters.

For Manawanui Red, Ari Ihaka and Janice Brown worked tirelessly in defence and were constantly hunting the ball.

In mid-court, Harmony King at wing defence and centre worked hard and was well supported by Karlena Tongotea.

The Manawanui shooting combinations of Rowena Tatana, Michelle Allen and Raina Smith were all tested by the strong Fideliter defence.