Lincoln break Hearts early hope

The return of several Canterbury Tactix players to the club scene did little to change the results as the top three teams recorded wins in the Christchurch Netball Centre’s championship round.

Defending champions Lincoln University beat Hearts 61-46, St Nicholas beat Halswell 66-33 and Kereru A beat Kereru B 64-30.

Fresh from a promotionrelegation win over Cashmere-Technical, Hearts struggled early in their clash with Lincoln to be down 17-8 at the first break.

The match was closer from that point, despite Lincoln’s Tactix player, Sophia Fenwick, Jo Trip and Jane Watson having strong games.

Hearts shooters Caitlin Sewell and Sarah Hayman shot consistently well, as did Fenwick and Sarah Hayman’s older sister, Elizabeth, in the Lincoln side.

Lincoln coach Bev Gordon was able to tinker with the side but the students never blew out as they had in the past as Hearts pushed them to the final whistle.

St Nicholas had the services of Keshia Grant and Bessie Manu for their match with Halswell.

The extra depth helped them overrun their opponents by 33 goals.

Both sides had the same number of misses but St Nics dominated possession, putting up 88 shots to Halswell’s 55.

Kereru B were not as competitive as the last time they met the A side.

In that encounter, they trailed by 15 at halftime and lost by 18.

This week, they were well and truly outplayed, losing by 34.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Hayman, Gemma Hazeldine and Fenwick travel to Auckland tomorrow to trial for the New Zealand under-21 side.

Hayman was last week named in the tournament team after Canterbury finished fourth at the under-21 national championships.