Central dip out to South
The Central national league netball team lost their second game in as many weeks to South, this time 51-46 in the grand final at Auckland on Sunday night.
Central were thrashed 59-43 in the final round-robin game in Invercargill last weekend and put in a much better performance this week, but Central coach Yvette Mccausland-durie was still disappointed after losing the final.
‘‘We had our opportunities and didn’t make the most of them,’’ she said. ‘‘But we’re pretty realistic about where they’re at and also we’re really pleased with the shift from last week to this week, so it’s a bit mixed.’’
Central led early in the match, but were overhauled by the southerners and Mccauslanddurie said they didn’t consolidate.
She was pleased they had come so far with a young side and been competitive with a South team that had three Trans-tasman players.
Central had a higher shooting percentage, but South had more ball and more shots at goal.
South’s tight defence slowed Central’s ball through midcourt and made it hard work getting the ball to their shooters.
South captain Hayley Crofts praised their defence for shutting down Central.
‘‘It probably wasn’t the tidiest of games, but a win’s a win and we’ll take it.’’
Central shot out to a 5-0 lead at the start of the game, before letting South sneak in front by one at
quarter time and five by halftime.
South then went in front by seven goals, but Central levelled things in the third quarter.
But South’s defence and a few mistakes from Central let South take the lead again at the end and they kept finding a way to get long balls to their tall shooter Jen O’connell.
Central’s players struggled to get into space to receive the pass.
Goal attack Renee Matoe was one of Central’s standout players, getting out of the circle to create options, while goal keep Karin Burger was their best defensive player.
Dani Gray, a former Manawatu player who is studying at Otago, came off the bench for South and made an impact at the defensive end.
The purpose of the new domestic league is to create a feeder team for the Trans-tasman sides and Mccausland-durie said there were a couple of players that could be developed to play for the Pulse in the future, which is one of the team’s objectives.
The new week in, week out competition has been welcomed over the old week-long national provincial competition.
The Central squad is young, so that should bode well for the next few seasons. Tiana Metuarau is only 15, a bulk of the squad are 18 and there are a couple of players that are 22 or 23.
Sheridan Bignall, Renee Matoe and Rhiarna Ferris will be back playing club netball in Manawatu for Manukura this week, and the rest of the Central team will be back to Wellington club netball.