THE Santander Senior Winter Netball League started again last week, with some impressive early season performances.
The night began with a celebration for Sheila Price, who was celebrating her 90th birthday. All teams gathered to wish her well and sing her happy birthday, and Sheila also blew the whistle to start the games.
Convent A opened their defence of their title with a 73-15 win over newly promoted Accies C.
It was a new-look Convent A, with many youngsters taking to the court. The experienced duo of Toni Chaytor and Jodie Blampied gelled the team together and led from the front.
Emily Le Gros linked well with Francesca Jones, returning from the UK, who slotted in seamlessly and both consistently scored their goals. Lara Vieira and Katie Doyle both worked the ball well up court to their shooters.
However, the dynamic duo of Annie Williams and Florence Allo stifled the Accies shooters, being quick to interchange their defence structures which resulted in turning over the ball with flying interceptions. Allo impressed the opposition and was awarded a much-deserved player of the match award.
Accies A took on a young St Lawrence B team, many of whom are new to Division 1 netball. As last season’s Division 1 runners-up, Accies put a stamp on the game from the first whistle, with their new defensive triangle of players – Molly Ryan, Daisy Dunn, and Tally Bavington – working as a solid unit and making the job of scoring goals for their opposition a hard task.
Willow Carrow, playing WA for Accies, showed that playing up from her D team was well within her scope and was awarded player of the match. It remained a competitive game throughout, but the task for St Lawrence was formidable, as Accies secured the win 67-15.
St Brelade Netball had an exciting start to the JNA winter league. The A team put in a brilliant performance in a hard-fought, closely contested match. Despite a few unlucky injuries, the squad showed great determination and teamwork.
St Brelade B team battled fiercely against St Clement C, staying neck and neck throughout. Both defensive ends worked hard to get the St Brelade lead in Q3, but St Clement clinched the win in the last five seconds, the final score reading 35-34.
St Lawrence A were up against Accies B on Monday night. There was a superb debut for St Lawrence Goal Shooter, Sofia Hussey, making the huge leap from the U18 division to the first and a worthy winner of the player of the match award.
Accies held a one-goal lead after the first quarter, but St Lawrence experienced players sussed out how to break down their opposition and gradually took control of the game. Only three goals separated the sides at the halfway break, then St Lawrence forged ahead to seal a 52-34 win.
Convent B, filled with Convent alumni, were shocked into action after going 3-0 down to a committed St Clement A team, GA and player of the match, Megan Hamilton, taking charge in the circle.
The Convent girls tightened up their play and were soon in the groove, with Jacy Brown and Tallula Norman speeding up the feeds into their prolific shooting duo of Sophie Sowney and Lynsey Pitman.
The defensive unit of Josie Ewing, Georgia Silcock, and Siobhan Le Moignan used the new tactical changes to their full advantage, solidifying their defensive interchanges to keep St Clement shooters to 28 goals.
Libby Rothwell and Allana Binnie were instrumental in denying circle edge space and were quick to bring the ball up court in a controlled fashion, with Saints Centre, Ellie Thackerey, never giving up against them. The court flair and circle feeds rewarded Lula Norman from Convent with player of the match, the final score reading 28-80 to Convent.
St Ouen B started the new season off with a strong first quarter against St Brelade C, who were making their debut as a team in the Winter League.
The Blues kept possession with accurate feeds into the circle from Michala Graham and Julie Gould, allowing Sophie Halsey and Zoe Barrett-Banks to capitalize on almost every centre-pass. A change in tactics for St Brelade meant that they had a very successful second quarter, bringing the margin back to seven goals by the end of the first half.
The Blues had to work hard to stall a strong St Brelade shooting duo, with Lisa Neil moving to GK and creating some key opportunities with interceptions in the circle.
Despite a very impressive first match for the new St Brelade C team, St Ouen B were able to utilize their experience as a team and came away with a 54-39 win. Player of the match for St Ouen B went to attacker, Zoe Barrett-Banks.
St Ouen C made their Winter League debut against St Saviour C, fielding a new team consisting of a range of netball experience. However, this wasn’t to stop them, as they started the game with strong play across the court.
Emily Collie (GA) and Emily Hopkins (GS) worked brilliantly in the shooting circle, with any missed shots being converted into quick rebounds and then into goals.
Lowri Makin and Sarah Ramasawny showed their defensive strength in the mid-court, with multiple interceptions resulting in St Ouen C taking a strong lead. Returning player Ashley Delgardo was back in the Centre position, and helped move the ball up to the awaiting shooters.
Despite a very strong St Saviour defence, St Ouen C started their new season off with a resounding 38-17 win, with Emily Collie (GA) awarded Player of the Match.
Tuesday evening saw the start of St Ouen A’s new season, against a young and talented Accies C team. Both teams started with end-to-end goals, with the Accies defence proving to be difficult for St Ouen mid-courters to get past.
After a slight change in tactics, St Ouen were able to break through and get feeds into Katie De La Cour (GS), due to her strong positioning in the circle. Accies made full use of their tactical changes, which added fresh challenge for the Blues, however, they soon found their stride and were able to create a ten-goal lead at the halfway point in the game.
Accies were determined for a first win and were quick to get the ball to goal at every interception. Grace Taylor (GK) and Annabelle Johnson (GD) were strong in preventing the Accies shooters from closing the gap, with Lucy Fox (Centre) and Millie Moscardini (GA) moving quickly up court to allow St Ouen to maintain their lead.
A hard-fought game by both teams resulted in a 39-24 win for St Ouen A, with Millie Moscardini (GA) being awarded player of the patch.
