“Girls’ High settled first in the game, leading at the first break, then Horouta made changes and upped it into the second quarter, going on a seven-goal streak to take the lead.
“The students fought back and the lead see-sawed throughout the quarter.”
Horouta capitalised on turnovers in the third quarter to go into the final quarter up by a single goal.
“That final period saw both teams going on scoring runs, with Horouta opening the gap to six,” Hall said.
“The students pressured well, especially in the goal circle with defenders picking up some great turnovers, but they were not able to close the gap.”
The six-goal loss meant the students were agonisingly denied a bonus point for losing by five goals or less.
In the second game, Claydens Waikohu Premier (1) outplayed Character Building YMP to the tune of 69-32.
They led through all the breaks – 15-7, 29-13, 45-24.
“The match started goal for goal in the first quarter before Waikohu took control with two four-goal runs to take the eight-goal buffer into the first break,” Hall said.
“The second quarter saw lots of turnovers across the court from both teams, with Waikohu’s usually composed shooters having some uncharacteristic misses, which YMP picked up.
“Unfortunately, Waikohu defensive pressure forced errors from the girls in black and white, and they doubled their lead to 16 by halftime.
“YMP kept the pressure on Waikohu and made them work hard for every ball, but the shooters slotted into their rhythm and extended the team’s lead to 21 at three-quarter time.
“Waikohu put their foot down in the last quarter and dominated across the court, outscoring YMP 24-6 to secure the win and keep their winning streak for the season unspoiled.”
There is no netball tomorrow.
The Gisborne Pak’nSave Senior competition resumes with Premier Grade action in the YMCA next Wednesday.
