Strong third quarter seals win, top spot on table for Phys Ed A

A STRONG third quarter sealed the top spot for Phys Ed A in its clash against the Southern Magpies.

It claimed a 5743 win in the topofthetable clash.

Both teams’ starting lineups were bolstered by Kate Heffernan for Phys Ed and Sophie Erwood for Southern, who added good height to their respective midcourts.

The first quarter was lowscoring as both teams’ attacking ends took a while to find their flow against staunch defence.

The battle between Phys Ed goal shoot Sarah Boomer and Southern goal keep Tarryn Dickson was impressive. Boomer held strong, but Dickson won the rebounding game in the first quarter.

Southern went into the first break up 1110 and with the first centre pass of the second quarter, created a twogoal buffer for itself. That momentum continued and it created a 1712 lead within the first three minutes of the quarter.

Phys Ed took some time to gather itself after Southern’s run of goals but, after some impressive defensive work through the full court, it was able to drag the score back to 2121 with three minutes to go.

Kate Heffernan went to work on defence and snatched a fantastic intercept with 40 seconds to go to give Phys Ed the upper hand at halftime.

Phys Ed came out with purpose in the third quarter, goal attack Georgia Heffernan and Boomer linking well to create easy ball into the shooting circle, assisted by several great feeds from centre Ella Brown.

Phys Ed’s intensity took it to

a 3123 lead before Southern scored its first goal of the half after five minutes of play.

Phys Ed put the foot down midway through the third stanza, goal keep Laura Overton hunting outside the circle to grab a couple of brilliant intercepts, and had a 4231 lead at threequarter time.

The fourth quarter proved to be similar to the third. Phys Ed kept widening the gap, even with some solid defensive efforts from the Southern side.

Rebounding at both ends was dominated by Phys Ed as Overton and Mariah Nelson tidied up the defensive end and Georgia Heffernan claimed anything that did not go in at the first attempt at the attacking end.

Phys Ed’s win keeps it top of the table after the roundrobin matches, with semifinals this coming weekend.

In other matches, South Pacific Titans A beat Phys Ed Blue5847; University Albion A edged St Hilda’s Senior A 5049; and Phys Ed B got up over Markhams College A 5652.