BLUES RISE IN TIGHT CLASH
KINGSTON Blues stole a 44-43 win from Cripps Waratah in the dying seconds of Friday’s State League netball match.
In a clash marked by momentum swings, Kingston looked in control in the first half, only for Cripps to dominate the third quarter, before Kingston stormed home in last quarter to steal the win.
Kingston defender Rebecca Hyland continued her good form from last week, intercepting a number of balls and helping her team to a 12-9 lead at the first break.
Then good finishing in the second from Jessica Earney and Gemma Polley helped the Blues to build a 24-16 half-time lead.
Cripps made much-needed changes to start the second half and increased intensity had an immediate impact. Defensive pressure from Ashleigh Probert-Hill and Lily Banks through the centre court gave Hannah Navickas and Alex Vinen a look at lots of ball and they quickly brought the margin back to one.
Hyland, though, continued to intercept as Kingston pushed the lead back out to three, before Vinen put on a clinic, with deflections, rejections, intercepts and rebounds aplenty as Cripps opened up a 34-29 buffer heading into the last.
Lucy Street’s return to the court at wing attack had a calming effect on Kingston’s attack and strong defensive efforts from Hyland and Brigitte Clack, at wing defence, helped Kingston notch six unanswered goals.
Cripps pulled back a few goals, though, and with scores level and Cripps having a centre pass with 30 seconds to go, an intercept to Clack and beautiful longrange shooting from Mackenzie Adams gave Kingston to the win. Blues coach Erin Baker was mostly pleased with her team’s efforts.
“Take away aspects of the third quarter and we are pretty happy with what we saw tonight,” she said.
“We are still building combinations but it is great to see our players new to Blues Opens making really positive impacts again.”
“Our fightback in the last is probably one of the most pleasing parts. We’ve put ourselves in tight winning positions in previous years and not been able to seal the win.
“To do that for the second time in as many weeks is a great feeling.”
While disappointed with the loss, Rosalie Navickas of Cripps praised her team’s endeavours.
“I was extremely proud of the girls’ 18-goal third term,” she said. “We had some great passages of play which shows what we are capable of.
“Our connections worked well and we moved the ball really well. Unfortunately we just lost a little bit of control in the last quarter.”
In other matches, AYCFriends Arrows recorded their first win of the season with a 47-28 victory over St. LukesHealth Karana and Cavaliers had a crushing 94-16 win against Devon.