YMP wins again over Whāngārā Old Girls

YMP A continued on their high scoring way on Wednesday night in the YMCA with another big victory over Whāngārā Old Girls. YMP A and B players Peata Waitai and Ana Naden were pictured in close action during the game between those two sides recently. Photo / Paul Rickard

YMP 1 were too strong right from the start against Whāngārā Old Girls and Horouta wore down Old Girls Whāngārā in the mid-week netball in the Gisborne YMCA on Wednesday night.

The grandstand in the ‘Y’ was just about fully packed for the first match between TR Builds Horouta Koura and East Coast Roofing OG Whangara.

It started virtually goal-for-goal, and was close through the entire first quarter as both teams felt out their opposition (14-13 to Horouta).

Horouta capitalised on a 5-goal run late in the second quarter to edge out by six goals at halftime (25-19).

They settled in the third quarter with a few turnovers giving them a couple of three-goal runs, taking the quarter 19-11 to extend their lead to 14 going into the final break (44-30).

Whāngārā had some great passages of play through court, but Horouta kept applying the pressure forcing more turnovers in a dominant 14-7 spell to take the win 58-37.

In the 7.30pm game Turanga FM YMP played Whāngārā OG 1 in another replay of last year’s grand final.

YMP started the match with intent, sinking the first five goals in a row.

Their defence was strong from the get go, forcing errors and utilising any ball they picked up to take a decisive 13-6 lead into the first break.

The second quarter was much like the first – Whāngārā struggling to get ball into the shooters, and their shooters being accurate under the post.

The 12-7 scoreline enabled YMP to extend their lead to 12 by halftime (25-13).

In the third quarter, they put their foot down.

Defenders Keasi Fonohema-Williams and Bronya McMenamin had beautiful space marking in the circle, giving the illusion of space to Whāngārā, but picking up plenty of intercepts.

The through-court zone defence rattled Whāngārā and forced multiple turnovers, providing a dominating 20-7 quarter score to push their lead out to 25 by the third quarter break (45-20).

The final quarter flowed better, and Whāngārā shooters found their rhythm in the closest quarter of the game – 17-14 to YMP.

YMP 1 picked up the four points from the game with a convincing 28-goal win - 62-34.

Tomorrow sees the courts back to full swing with all grades back in action.

Just the one game in the premier grade competition in the YMCA .

Gisborne Girls’ High Senior A take on Character Roofing YMP 2 in what should be a close game starting at 9am.

Last time they met the results were pretty even, it should be a good match up.