Champion quest begins in earnest

The Whangarei premier grade  championship round got underway on Friday night after a week's break for the six top-ranked teams.
They sat out last weekend while Takahiwai and Fideliter Development  won promotion-relegation  over Kamo High School and Marist Social reserve grade sides.
Fideliter 1 and Whangarei Old Boys, who entered the round-robin match-up ranked second and third, respectively fought out a tight contest at Kensington Stadium.
Drawn at half time,  Fideliter 1  gradually gained ascendancy thanks to a strong midcourt effort from wing attack Renee Lowther who found space and moved the ball around well, coach Loren Eagle said.
"Erin McEvoy was also quite tight and restrictive at wing defence while Judy MacDonald shot really well, as always, for us at goal attack," Eagle said.
 Fideliter 1  led by two at the end of the third quarter, and added a few more on top of that in the fourth to win 47-42.
"It was a very close game - our shooting stats were down and we could have done with a few more goals," conceded Eagle.
"We need to start a bit stronger and secure a few more goals rather than play catch-up netball.
"We were a bit tardy but we didn't let them get a run on us and we just need to win from now on."
A nippy Whangarei Girls' High School team, ranked sixth on the table, were up next against Manawanui, in fifth.
The schoolgirls were missing their centre and skipper Sian Telfer - who was away with the New Zealand Academy team contesting the opening round of the Women's Basketball League in Auckland - but her absence did not stop them from continuing their season's impressive form.
They dug deep to charge home, narrowly defeating a determined Manawanui side, 53-50.
The two top ranked sides Marist Combined and Marist 1 dominated their games as expected against the sides who avoided relegation last weekend.
Marist Combined were challenged by Takahiwai but were too strong winning 47-36, while clubmates Marist 1 thumped the under-21 development side 52-32.
Marist Combined, Marist 1, WGHS and Fideliter 1 all have three championship points from their victory, while the other four earned one point for their first round efforts.