Haley Stockman at GA for Verdettes Marist Old Girls. Photo / Judy Macdonald
Indoor Premier Results St Peter's Premier 63 vs Verdettes Marist Old Girls 62 Nottingham Castle Rangers 48 vs Hamilton Girls' High Premier 47 Waikato Diocesan Open A 57 vs St Paul's Collegiate Open 28 University of Waikato Premier Reserve 41 vs Iwi Karearea Premier 41 Verdettes Marist Premier 45 vs FTNC Premier Reserve 58 FTNC Premier (win by default) vs University of Waikato Premier
In the sixth week of the indoor premier netball competition, the 12 teams split into top six and bottom six based on the first round of results.
In the first round the teams were in the following pools and this was their ranking after five round robin games:
Pool 1: Nottingham Castle Rangers, University of Waikato Premier, St Peter's Premier (all with 12 points), Hamilton Girls High Premier (6 points), Fraser Tech Netball Centre, Premier Reserve (3 points) and Iwi Karearea Premier (2 points).
Pool 2: Verdettes Marist Old Girls (15 points), FTNC Premier (12 points), Waikato Diocesan Open A (6 points), Verdettes Marist Premier and University of Waikato Premier Reserve (both with 4 points).
Splitting the teams into top and bottom six meant that the games were a lot closer and more competitive overall this week.
Within the pool of the top six there was two really close games and in the bottom six there was a draw.
In Pool 1 is Verdettes Marist Old Girls, Nottingham Castle Rangers, FTNC Premier, St Peter's Premier, University of Waikato Premier and Hamilton Girls High Premier.
In Pool 2 is St Paul's Collegiate Open, Waikato Diocesan Open A, University of Waikato Premier Reserve, FTNC Premier Reserve, Verdettes Marist Premier and Iwi Karearea Premier.
St Peter's Premier continued their winning streak with a one-goal win over Verdettes Marist Old Girls.
St Peter's started strong to be up by a goal at the end of the first quarter and led by four goals at half time with the score being 34 goals to 30.
The third quarter was a draw and then Marist Old Girls clawed their way back, winning the final quarter but not quite enough to take the win.
The final score was 63 goals to 62. Overall this was an exciting and entertaining game to watch.
For St Peter's, the players should be proud of their efforts against quality opposition. They showed composure at crucial moments and still let the ball flow freely.
They were also patient when they needed to be on attack. Katie Te Ao at goal defence and Waiata Jennings at wing defence were outstanding. Both put pressure on the Verdettes attackers and forced errors.
Atlanta Bruce at goal shoot was strong, getting free and finishing well under some formidable defence.
For Marist Old Girls, they started slow and tended to force the ball on attack in the first half but strategic changes in the second half resulted in their game flowing better with more cohesion in the second half.
Pou Ruri-Clarke showed skills and versatility starting in defence at goal keep and finishing shooting at goal shoot.
Katherine Levein also made a welcome return to the team playing wing defence and goal defence.
Nottingham Castle Rangers were also only able to take the win by one goal in a fiercely contested and competitive game against Hamilton Girls High Premier.
Castle Rangers held a one goal lead at the end of the first quarter but at half time Hamilton Girls had reversed this to lead by two goals.
The half time score was 22 goals to 20. Castle Rangers came back in the third quarter to bring the score level at 34 goals and then won the final quarter by a goal to take the game 48 goals to 47. Another great game to watch.
Castle Rangers struggled to find form quickly.
The defensive end of Tegan Broomfield at goal keep and Emma Lee Rowe at goal defence and goal keep kept them in the game winning turnover ball.
The attack end improved in the second half with Emily Ussher having moved into goal attack and Alison Priestley coming on at wing attack.
Overall the team was lucky to keep their composure in the final couple of minutes with Demi Moana at goal shoot scoring two quick goals to even the score and to take the win at the final whistle.
For Hamilton Girls it was a tight game with each quarter see-sawing.
Hylan Potts at centre used clever passing skills into the shooters and goal keep TeAo Olliver-Samuels gained some crucial intercepts and tips.
This was an improved performance by the team against the more experienced Castle Rangers team.
University of Waikato Premier Reserve and Iwi Karearea Premier had a real tussle from start to finish in what was an evenly contested match.
Uni Premier Reserve led by five goals at the end of the first quarter but this dwindled to just one goal ahead at half time with Iwi Karearea having a strong second quarter. The score was 20 goals to 19.
The third quarter was a draw with Uni Premier still narrowly with the lead. Iwi Karearea got the edge in the final quarter and the game ended up in a draw. The score was 41 all.
For Iwi Karearea they started and finished strong and the team lifted the intensity at the start of each new quarter.
The shooters were composed and presented good angles for the feeders to give them the ball.
Siobahn Taute-Collier at goal attack showed great movement and confidence.
For University Premier Reserve they were happy with their performance which was an improvement on previous games.
They built on strengths from last week reducing errors on attack and maintained consistency throughout the match.
In the other games, Waikato Diocesan Open A started slow but from second quarter onwards led for the rest of the game.
St Paul's Collegiate Open were strong initially with a two-goal lead at the end of the first quarter but at half time Waikato Diocesan had taken a dominant lead of 23 goals to 15.
This pattern continued over the next two quarters with Waikato Diocesan going from strength to strength.
The final score was 57 goals to 28. St Paul's will be disappointed with this score but their connections and ability to get the ball down the court and into the goal were smothered by a strong defensive effort by Waikato Diocesan.
FTNC Premier Reserve led from start to finish in their game against Verdettes Marist Premier but they did not have it all their way.