Sam Sinclair with the ball at C for Suburbs Premier being backed up by Grace Kukutai at WD. Photo / Supplied
Sam Sinclair with the ball at C for Suburbs Premier being backed up by Grace Kukutai at WD. Photo / Supplied
FTNC Premier 48 vs Verdettes Marist Premier 35 Uni Premier 64 vs New World Rototuna Suburbs Premier 36 Verdettes Marist Old Girls 53 vs New World Rototuna Suburbs Premier Reserve 55
In the fifth and final week of the Vege King Indoor Premier netball competition the two top ranked teams matched up. It also saw the bottom team determined which will see them relegated straight back to the Saturday outdoor premier competition.
In the game to determine who was to be relegated FTNC Premier came out fighting against a fired up Marist Verdettes Premier.
Elsa Brown GS for Uni Premier takes a shot. Photo / Supplied
FTNC Premier started well to lead by seven at the end of the first quarter. Verdettes Marist Premier then won the second quarter by a goal only to lose the third and final quarters by a few goals apiece.
The final score was 48 goals to 35. In winning this game FTNC Premier remain in the premier grade for the championship round but Verdettes Marist Premier are automatically relegated to the Saturday competition.
For FTNC Premier they had a strong team line up including Magic and Beko players and it was an overall good team effort.
Grace Namana at GS for FTNC Premier shoots while being defended by Nic Pettit at GD for Verdettes Marist Premier. Photo / Supplied
Amorangi Malesala at goal attack and shooting at over 90% helped seal the win. For Verdettes Marist Premier their shooters were put under a lot of pressure by the strong FTNC Premier defence. At the opposite end of the court the Verdettes Marist Premier defence worked tirelessly all game.
The team is gutted to be relegated as have some up and coming natural talent that were benefiting from the indoor competition.
The really close game of the night was that between Verdettes Marist Old Girls and New World Rototuna Suburbs Premier Reserve.
This was a real nail bitter and proved to be close and competitive the whole game. Rototuna Suburbs Premier Reserve won the first and second quarters, the third was a draw and the final quarter won by Verdettes Marist Old Girls but all a little too late.
The final score was 55 goals to 53. For Rototuna Suburbs Premier Reserve everyone played a controlled and disciplined game and the atmosphere was positive.
The injection of some youth in the second half changed the game. Overall Sonya Noble at goal shoot moved and shot amazingly well and in the second half she combined with her daughter Anahia Noble at goal attack.
This was a nice pairing and exciting to watch. Verdettes Marist Old Girls played a strong game but it took a while to build up momentum which cost them the game.
The mid court combinations of Tenille McDonald at centre most of the game along with Taylor Kells and Niki Crombie both at wing attack for half a game each did some really nice sets of play.
Uni Premier showed they had come to play again this week with reduced errors and they finished the round unbeaten. Uni Premier are again the favorites to take out the championship round. New World Rototuna Suburbs Premier were outplayed in all aspects of the game.
The score however did not reflect the intensity, speed, skill and flair of the game from both teams. There was some outstanding netball on display. For Uni Premier it was a full team effort with 10 players getting onto the court. Young goal shooter Fiesola Puamau was the standout this week for Uni Premier.
Rototuna Suburbs Premier team overall made too many errors, missed shooting opportunities and did not apply enough consistent defensive pressure throughout court to stem the flow of goals by the Uni Premier team. For Rototuna Suburbs Premier there were some patches of smooth ball movement from Jess Shed in the shooting circle and Shannon O'Donnell in mid court.
At the opposite end of the court Micaela Ashford at goal defence in the second half applied some good defensive pressure. The team is comfortable to finish second in the round but will go back to the drawing board for championship round.
