Netballers brave the rain

HINCKLEY Ladies Netball teams were back in action on the court over the past two weekends.

January 13

A Team Hinckley hosted Ernsford for the second game of the New Year.

After going three or four down Hinckley woke up and were full of energy with the ball flowing nicely down court, the first quarter went Hinckley’s way 11-10.

In the second quarter Ernsford came out all guns blazing and refined their attack well and despite some good defensive play from Hinckley, it wasn’t enough to keep Ernsford at bay. The half time score was 23-19.

The Hinckley captain felt they needed to make some changes, luckily with versatility and an eight man squad it was possible. However, Ernsford did exactly the same and without as much height in the defensive circle, Ernsford were proactive stretching their lead.

Hinckley coming down court were good but could not provide the usual, final attack angst and product they are capable of and heads dropped.

They lost the third quarter 39-23.

Hinckley were frustrated as they knew they could beat Ernsford, as they did at the beginning of the season.

Hinckley made some more defensive and new attacking changes, with people playing slightly out of position but it paid off as Hinckley managed to get a few goals back in the last quarter.

Full time score was 49-32 with Hinckley’s everything left on the court, it was not their day. Player of the match was Captain Rebecca Oldfield. D Team Hinckley D played Keresley B away missing a couple of their key players and tried a different formation in the attacking line up.

Play was pretty even in the first quarter but Keresley took the lead 9–6.

Hinckley then made a change in the attack for the next quarter but Keresley’s shooters were on top form and Hinckley’s defenders could not stop them increasing their lead even further.

Hinckley’s attack struggled to get the ball to both shooters as the Keresley GD made it very difficult for GA and both Hinckley’s Centres had a very physical game against the Keresley C.

Hinckley made more radical reallocation of roles than the conservative cabinet in the third quarter and the shooters were more consistent and play around the circle improved. With the change and tightening of the defence, and an injury to Keresley’s shooter, Hinckley started to fight back and close the gap and had a dominating last quarter.

Hinckley’s defenders intercepted many balls.

Unfortunately it was too little too late and despite winning on paper the last quarter Hinckley could not close the gap enough and lost the game 30–39.

Player of the match went to Heather Fraser who remained composed playing GD then C for the second half of the game.

January 20 The first home game on a very wet Saturday morning was Hinckley B vs Ambleside D.

First centre to Ambleside was quickly followed by a goal from them.

Hinckley soon responded with their first goal in the second minute and followed with more to finish Q1 - 9-6.

Hinckley increased the gap with excellent pressure across the whole court keeping Ambleside from scoring at all for over half of the second quarter.

Hinckley still in the lead at half time 19-11 and stormed ahead in the third despite the weather 30-17. Team spirit and calm play secured the win for Hinckley final score 42-23 pom Beth Williers GD.

Hinckley C played against offchurch B on Saturday afternoon.

It was goal for goal in the first quarter, with attack and defence playing important roles within the game on both teams.

With increasing pressure from both sides, combined with some excellent defence and shooting from Hinckley, the end of the second quarter finished with the teams being neck and neck at 23-23.

Hinckley stepped it up in the third quarter, which saw some great team work and brilliant interceptions from the team.

With only minor mistakes preventing them from pulling away, Hinckley C went into the last quarter ahead by two.

The last quarter proved tiring, with Hinckley struggling to turn the ball around and making a few costly mistakes that allowed off-church to pull ahead.

The final whistle blew at 50-43 to Offchurch, with player of the match being awarded to GA Emily.

Hinckley D played Ernesford D at home in sleety freezing conditions.

The whole game was pretty even with each team matching each other goal for goal finishing the first quarter 9–10 in Ernesford’s favour.

Hinckley made several changes to a variety of positions throughout the game trying some different combinations with the players available.

Hinckley’s GA Milly Hemus played a solid game with some excellent positioning around the court and both shooters were on form with some accurate shooting throughout the match.

During the third quarter Hinckley went behind by five despite Hinckley’s defence intercepting many long balls passed into the experienced Ernesford GS who rarely missed.

Not giving up, Hinckley played a calm last quarter making extra passes to keep possession of the ball.

They managed to pull a few goals back with their determination and were able to claw the scores back to a goal difference of three, but ended disappointed to lose the match 34–37 but boosted a good team performance throughout.

Player of the match went to Ella Wilkinson at GK who had a strong game.