Valley Gold on 28, St Kevin’s A on 17 bookend last four

Netball

The four semifinalists in premier netball were decided at the Hine Marae courts on Saturday afternoon.

Valley Gold, last season’s champion, had a tense struggle against St Kevin’s A, holding on for a 3129 win to go through to the semifinals unbeaten, while Waitaki Girls’ Wildfire beat Athletic Maroon 4428.

In other premier 1 netball games, Waitaki Girls’ Lightning Strike beat Kurow 3214 and Maheno Green defeated Valley Silver 3915.

Athletic Maroon turned on a strong defence for threequarters of the game against Wildfire, trailing 107 after the first quarter, 1621 at halftime and 2130 at threequarter time before Wildfire pulled away in the final quarter for a 4428 win.

Blayze Rooney showed her versatility by starting at WA and moving to GK and GD, while for Wildfire Holly Beazer (WD to GK) also was versatile and Brianna Weir (C) controlled the court well. For Athletic, Olivia Brien (GS) was accurate in the circle.

St Kevin’s A could not build on its firstquarter lead of 97 against competition leader Valley Gold, which swept to a halftime lead of 1815 in the second quarter, putting the game in the balance.

Lots of turnover ball because of the damp conditions affected both sides, while St Kevin’s was without its regular shoot, Jaimee Trainor, although senior player Connie Metcalf stepped up to the challenge, moving from GD to GS.

Valley was once again superbly led by veteran Rihi Schultz (GA) and Nicky Wallace (GD).

Maheno Green was too strong for Valley Silver. Melissa Smith had a field day on defence while Kara Cox played well at GS.

Maheno led 112 after the first quarter and 237 at halftime. At threequarter time, it was 19 goals ahead and it extended this lead to a final 3915.

The points of the semifinalists are Valley Gold 28, Maheno 22, Wildfire 18, St Kevin’s A 17. In the semifinals, Valley will meet St Kevin’s and Maheno will meet Wildfire.

Hockey

After holding Northern Hearts to 33 at halftime, Tainui succumbed in the second half to let the opposition pull away for a 75 win. Tainui’s loss means that in a fortnight’s time it will play off for fifth in the plate round.

In club hockey, the Bridger boys, Deon and Keenan, each scored a hattrick as Pirata Blue beat Pirata White 71.

Aaron Rushton also scored a hattrick as Pirata Black beat St Kevin’s Girls Development XI 42, while the Waitaki Boys’ Development XI defeated the Waitaki Girls’ Development XI 50, Bradley Jones and Jackson Smith scoring a brace of goals each.

Georgie McCarthy with two goals for St Kevin’s Girls First XI helped her side beat Waitaki Girls First XI 51.