SOUTH GAMBIER V MILLICENT
The young South Gambier line-up has fallen agonisingly short of a breakthrough finals appearance, putting in a stunning four-quarter effort to almost topple 2021 runners-up Millicent in the final round of the 2022 Bendigo Bank Western Border Netball Association season at the weekend.
The final margin was five goals with the Demons getting to within two of the required unlikely win at one stage in the frenetic final quarter at Blue Lake Sports Park.
Despite being a loss, it was a strong finish to the season for the young line-up, which picked up six wins for the season to double its 2021 output.
But in the end Millicent was composed when it counted, despite losing star wing defender Georgia Clarke to a serious knee injury in the opening quarter.
Demi Verbena and Lisa Duldig led the way as they controlled the ball movement in the attacking half of the court, working well in tandem with Paige Nitschke and then delivering with precision to Tabatha Sanderson.
At the other end the battle was intriguing as four of the best young stars in the competition went head-to-head – Saints defenders Portia McRae and Hannah Nitschke taking on Demons goalers Lara Munro and Alyssa Duncan.
Millicent would be thrilled to have been challenged strongly ahead of the 2022 finals and their depth was on full display with Lillie Paul taking the wing defence bib to replace the injured Clarke and having a great battle with Tully McShane.
CASTERTON SANDFORD V EAST GAMBIER
East Gambier took control in the opening quarter and while the clash with Casterton Sandford became a low scoring, defensive contest, the Bulldogs got the job done with a 24-goal win at Island Park.
The 16-2 opening quarter did the damage though, on the back of nine from 11 from Amryn Bosko.
The young Cats did recover though from the lacklustre start, winning the second quarter and competing strongly in the second half.
Sarah Lock was also a rock in goals, creating space for Bosko but also converting when the opportunity arose, netting 18 from 22 in the final three quarters of the clash including a perfect shooting performance in the final quarter.
Casterton Sandford did reconfigure its defensive line at the half-time break, bringing Tessa Marra into wing defence, moving Ebany Jarrad to goalkeeper, sending Caeleigh Humphries out to goal defence with Charlotte Rice moving to the other end of the court to take the goal shooter bib.
But in the end, East did enough to ensure the win, with Emily Hunter dominating the mid court and Bo Creek and Morgan Amy denying the Cats easy scoring opportunities.
WEST GAMBIER V NORTH GAMBIER
It has been the story of North Gambier’s season and it was a similar script again at the weekend when the side faced ladder-leader West Gambier at Malseed Park.
This time Tigers were missing two key personnel and this ultimately denied them the chance to seriously challenge the inform Roos.
With no Ash Kalantarian at wing attack or first choice keeper Zahra Crough, North Gambier was forced to work with another new look line-up.
West has shown the ability to pounce on the smallest chances and this gave the strong side led by Lisa McGregor the chance to come out of the blocks firing and they did.
It was a high-scoring opening quarter, with Sarah Ritter netting 19 from 23 on her own as West built a seven-goal buffer.
Despite the loss of personnel, the Tigers still fought hard and sharpshooter Caroline Wakefield turned it on in the second quarter.
She was on fire scoring 15 of her 16 shots at goal as North clawed back one to set up a classic second half battle.
However, the Roos had other ideas and supply became a huge issue as West dominated the second half in every area of the court to take a 28-goal victory.
Defensively Jade Ritter and Amy Cram capitalised on the pressure out front from the mid court, while the work on the drive from Tara Bryant to deliver the ball with speed to Lisa McGregor and Sarah Ritter had the Tigers defenders working overtime.
For North, Lauran Norman was consistent on the attacking wing, while Mel Renko not only worked tirelessly to apply defensive pressure but also played a huge role in transition.
