Ladies E team takes win over Ds
Hinckley A played at home at the weekend against Henley C in their penultimate match of the season. It was a tough game with some great netball from both sides.
Unfortunately, one of Hinckley A’s attackers broke her arm the day before the fixture, so there was a lastminute scramble to find enough players for Hinckley to field a full team of seven. However, Chloe and Katie Phillips from Hinckley B were able to rearrange their morning plans and attend the fixture as sub and player respectively. A huge thank you again to both for helping Hinckley A in their hour of need.
The first quarter of the match was steady and evenly matched as both teams got into their own rhythm. Hinckley A edged ahead and ended the quarter leading 15-12. The second quarter for Hinckley was slightly erratic and disjointed, allowing Henley to take the lead by 6 goals. A constructive half time team talk, with helpful advice from Hinckley’s injured players D’arcey Arrowsmith and Nic Cairns, resulted in Hinckley playing their own game again and clawing back the goal difference.
Flying intercepts from goal defence Bethany Willars, and clinical shooting from shooting partners Lucy Marsden and player of the match Holly Hemsley contributed to making a dent in Henley’s lead, however it was not enough to secure a win and ended 54-49 to Henley.
Hinckley’s final match of the season and their last chance to secure top of the league takes place Wednesday.
Hinckley B travelled away to play Henley D for the last game of the season. Hinckley were slow to start, taking a few minutes to get used to a change to their usual formation due to player unavailability. Hinckley were 7-11 down after the first quarter, but some great defensive work from Annis Pears and Anna Clayden in the Henley circle put a stop to the flow of feeds into the on form Henley shooter. Nic Wallace played a steadying WD, bringing the ball down court to link well with the attack. The centre court found it difficult to feed to the shooters at first, struggling to get the ball over or around the Henley GK who seemed to dominate the whole shooting D.
But the determination of centre Caron Ogden and WA Katie Phillips, found a way through. Hinckley trailed by 9 going into the last 15 minutes, and despite some lovely netball, and Hinckley shooting duo, Chloe Phillips and Carole Payne putting in some great long bomb shots, they couldn’t reel in the goal deficit and fell to a 37- 27 loss. PoM went to Centre Caron Ogden.
Hinckley C played Alec High on Saturday, for the last game of the season. Hinckley started off strong with tight marking and accurate passes. First quarter time saw Alec High taking a slight lead. With a burst of energy Hinckley fought hard however Alec High continued their lead. By half time Hinckley continued with energy, numerous intercepting tips from Emily Moyo and Derry O’Neill assisting the turn overs to Hinckley’s advantage. Nic Wallace, making accurate passes up the centre court to attackers Susan Ley and Ellie Kyriacou who worked together to create space for shooters Thea Weaver and Polly Coward to shoot in the circle.
Spectators on the side line supported the C’s as they continued to work hard right to the end. Alec High won 55-33, Player of the match went to Susan Ley.
Hinckley Ladies D team played Stockton F. Hinckley took the lead early on in the first quarter with a very strong start, full of encouragement and good teamwork especially around the attacking circle.
Hinckley’s momentum continued with some amazing turnovers from the defence allowing the attackers more opportunities to continue the lead, the score at half time was 24-14. With consistent attacking play down the court and great pressure from the defence, Hinckley ended the third quarter still with the lead, the score being 36-22. The final quarter saw Hinckley pull away even more through determination from the defence to go for every interception and speed from the attack, Hinckley finished with a brilliant score of 53-33. POM to GD Evie Smith.
Hinckley’s D and E team were back playing against each other in the Division 7 local derby this week. Unfortunately, with injuries, illnesses and work commitments the D team were down to 4 players so had to use 2 players from the E team squad of 8 and then both teams had 6 aside to play each other. Consequently, the D team were playing with ‘new’ players and a couple were out of their normal positions. They struggled to settle in the first quarter, finding it hard to get into a rhythm. The E team were able to start strong and having made the decision to keep their full defence and drop their WA this made it difficult for Ds and the Es were able to pick up interceptions more easily. The E team took a 16-goal lead by the end of the quarter. The D team had a few changes going into the second quarter which did work to their advantage but still they struggled to move the ball effectively down the court and into the goal end and the movement from the E team attack made it very hard to defend or turnover. Hinckley’s GA Cara Stuckey (pom for the E team) had some fabulous drives into the circle and linked well with Tracey Pallett at Centre and Anita King at Goal Shooter.
The D team had some lovely attacking plays going into the final two quarters with some strong drives in and around the circle especially from Polly Coward at GS and Maddi Seller at C/WA (both named joint pom for the Ds). A difficult game for both teams, however the Es went on to win the game 55-21. A strong performance that the Es hope to bring to their last two games in the week!