Reigning champions New Kids Aces stamped its claim to defend their title, when they evened the ledger with this season’s leading side Uranquinty in Saturday’s feature match of Wagga netball with a 57-46.
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Uranquinty made a great start to the game, and with Hannah Finemore and Lana Duffy converting the majority of their scoring opportunities, the Greens took a two-goal lead into the first break.
In the second quarter, the Aces reorganized their defence and with Marie Campbell at GK, Tracy Schulz-Cole at GD and Lisa Reynoldson moved out of the circle to wing defence, applied greater pressure on the Uranquinty midfield outscored the youngsters to half-time up 29-25.
Buoyed by their second term success, the Aces, with Rachael Addison now at WD and Abbey Corbett in the centre, continued to hold the upper hand to the last change of ends with a comfortable eight-goal advantage.
The Aces kept up the pressure till the end and with shooters Lisa Frow and Paige Guthrie together netting another thirteen goals and their defence limiting Uranquinty to just ten goals, the Aces managed to inflict Uranquinty’s first defeat this season with a 57-46 win.
The Aces will look to continue their good form with a win over Shooting Stars in the next round, while Uranquinty will enjoy the bye.
Turvey Park produced their best performance this season in going down to Shooting Stars 37-26.
The effort was made all the more creditable with regular shooters, Nicky Gallagher and Teagan Hallam, both missing, handing the scoring duties to Grace Carmichael and Lauren Barton.
Shooting Stars began the game in grand form, with Olivia Lang difficult to contain under the ring and piled on the goals and it seemed a huge win was on order.
However, Carmichael scored the last four goals of the opening term, leaving the Stars just three goals up at the first change.
Jemima Norbury, at GD, and centre court players, Michelle Forrell and Hayley Stevens were constantly intercepting Turvey’s forward moves, giving the Stars almost twice as many scoring opportunities.
With a revised defensive lineup in the second quarter, Turvey Park limited the Stars shooters to just six goals, while with frequent feed from Amanda Gooden and Kira Hallam, the Turvey shooting pair netted seven to make it two goals the difference at half-time.
With the possibility of these two teams meeting in the minor semi-final, Turvey was encouraged and took a one-goal lead at one stage through the term, before the Stars, now with Lang at GK and Stacey Curran and Flynn Hogg doing the shooting, finished strongly to take a five-goal lead into the final quarter.
In the last fifteen minutes, Turvey seemed to tire a little and the accurate conversion of the Stars’ many scoring opportunities saw them outscore Turvey 10-4 in the term to register a 37-26 win.
The Stars will look to challenge the Aces next round, whilst Turvey will hope to consolidate their position in the top four when they meet Kooringal.