Pennine took the first centre and an early lead, but then G2 found their rhythm and romped ahead, winning the first quarter 17-9.
G2’s Captain Kate Garner came on as WD to give Pennine something else to think about for the next quarter, which turned out to be a very close contest. However, some excellent defending by GK Connie Smith and GD Laura Scigliano, coupled with some excellent shooting by GS Beth Smith and GA Freddie Marlow, and good up-court linkage from C Katie Clarke, saw G2 lead 32-21 at half time. G2’s Rachael Bullock came back on as WD in the third quarter, helping out in defence, whilst WA Grace Brooks fed the shooters well. G2 had a superb quarter, playing some sublime netball to lead by 30 goals at the end of this quarter, with the score at 57-27. This ‘purple patch’ continued into the final quarter, with everyone playing an excellent standard of netball. G2 won the last quarter 22-10 (final score 79-37). The ‘Player of the Match’ award this week was won jointly by GK Connie Smith and GA Freddie Marlow. An awesome match for G2. GRASSHOPPER 1 JUST MISS OUT ON THEIR FIRST WIN THIS SEASON - AGAINST HINCHCLIFFE HYDRAULICS27/11/2018
Grasshoppers won the toss and took the first centre pass, but it was quickly turned over by Hinchcliffe Hydraulics. However, Grasshopper did the same to them and turned over their centre pass, to make it 1-1. Following this, Grasshopper took an early lead and led 5-2 at one point, but some determined play by Hinchcliffe saw them draw level and overtake Grasshopper, to win the first quarter 11-15.
No changes were made going into the second quarter and this paid off for Grasshoppers as they won that quarter 13-11. At half time, Grasshoppers brought Donna Osborn out to GA and Katie Long moved to GS and Holly Walker moved from C to GD. Tracy Glover came off at GK and Laura Watson went in there. Hannah Wale came on at WA and Carly Vardy moved to C, with Sadie Burch coming on at WD. Unfortunately, these changes and fresh legs were not enough to stop Hinchcliffe, and by the end of the third quarter, Grasshoppers had lost another quarter by 15 goals to 11, trailing 35-41 overall. In the final quarter, Carly Vardy came off and Holly Walker moved to C again, with Tracy Glover reclaiming the GK position and Laura Watson moving to GD; the shooters also swapped over again and in spite of a spirited attempt, which helped them win the final quarter, Grasshoppers just couldn’t get the final three goals they needed for a win. The final score, 48-50. Player of the Match was Holly Walker – who played really well as C and GD. Grasshoppers faced Falcons Yellow for the first time and in a closely contested first quarter, they just edged out as winners of the quarter by 15 goals to 14, with all players on court performing well.
At the start of the second quarter, Kate Garner came off and was replaced at GK by Laura Scigliano. Some good court linkage play by GA, Andy Flewitt and some solid, accurate and confident shooting by Beth Smith at GS saw Grasshoppers take that quarter convincingly, by 16 goals to 10, making the half time score 31-24. Further team changes were made at half time, with Rosie Weselby being replaced at WD by Laura Scigliano and Kate Garner coming back on as GK. Andy Flewitt was replaced at GA by Grace Litchfield and she also combined well with Beth Smith, joint players of the match Grace Brooks at WA and Katie Clarke at C and the team continued to play well and with confidence, winning the third quarter 16-8 and leading the game going into the final quarter by 47 goals to 32. No further changes were made and the game ebbed and flowed equally between the two teams; so much so that by the end of the final quarter, Falcons Yellow had managed to draw the quarter 11-11, but lost the game 58 goals to 43. Another mature, confident and calm performance by Grasshopper 2, who have not got flustered once so far this season. Well done all! Lincs won the first centre pass, but it was immediately turned over by the Grasshopper defence and Grasshopper converted this goal and proceeded to storm into the lead. Grasshopper was helped by several missed shots by the Lincs circle attack, but strong and effective passing up court enabled GS Katie Long and GA Donna Osborn to convert most shots. Grasshopper’s defensive unit of GK Tracy Glover, GD Megs Palmer and WD Holly Walker stopped Lincs City 2 from scoring for 13 minutes of the first 15 and going into the second quarter, Grasshopper NC led 13-1.
In the second quarter, it was more of the same for Grasshopper NC; they continued to convert their shots, whilst a very strong, indomitable defence made it extremely difficult for Lincs City 2. They did add to their score during the second quarter, but they continued to find it hard and Grasshopper led 25-8 at half time, helped by some good up-court linkage play by C Hannah Wale and WA Nikki Payne. Grasshopper NC continued to play calmly and with good control in the third quarter. They were unflappable and maintained their consistency to win this period 12-7 and lead by 37-15. The fourth quarter saw Lincs City 2 try to stage a come-back, but due to Grasshopper’s very strong defensive unit it was impossible and the defence played with great maturity and dictated that area of the court, causing Lincs City 2 to concede possession - for holding beyond three seconds – on several occasions, which helped Grasshopper gain their first win of the season. It was an emphatic win too as they won the game 49-18 and did not even allow Lincs City 2 to get half score. This was a well-deserved win by a Grasshopper team determined to play well, support each other and play for each other and congratulations must go to all of them and particularly the Player of the Match, Megs Palmer – on her first regional game for Grasshopper NC this season. Grasshopper 2 NC won the first centre pass in their first ever East Midlands regional game against Ripley (Regional League 3). However, Ripley turned it over and scored several goals in succession before Grasshoppers could reply. The quarter was tightly-contested though with Ripley coming out winners, 16-13.
No Grasshopper changes were made Coach, Fiona Borrows, which allowed the team to settle into the second quarter. This period went goal-for-goal for the most part, however Grasshoppers managed to turn over some of Ripley’s centre passes to win the quarter 12-8, giving them a 25-24 half-time lead. The Grasshopper team remained the same for the third quarter and solid shooting by GS Beth Smith and GA Georgia Barnes ensured Grasshoppers came out on top by 11 goals to 9. The final quarter saw some great defending by GK Kate Garner and GD Laura Scigliano, who were ably helped by WD Sadie Burch. This, coupled with some excellent linkage up court by C Amy Brennan and WA Katie Clarke, saw Grasshoppers win their first ever regional match by 51 goals to 44. A well-deserved win from a great team performance. Grasshopper NC faced a tough test against Leapoole, fielding a team with some different players in it, compared with last season. Although Grasshoppers won the toss and took first centre, it was taken from them as Leapoole shot out of the blocks to take an early lead. By the end of the first quarter, they were leading 8-12.
A couple of team changes were made by Grasshoppers at the start of the second quarter, but they were unable to catch up and instead, went further behind, as Leapoole took a commanding lead, with some superb defending from their GD and at half time, the score was 13-31. However, Grasshopper came out fighting in the third quarter and only lost that one 11-14, but it still meant that the score going into the final quarter was 24-45. Shooters Beth Smith and Katie Long worked really hard and well together during the final two quarters, but they could not pull it back, but Grasshopper NC’s final two quarters were very similar and they did manage to score over half to earn a point, but the final score was a 34-59 loss. Grasshopper’s player of the match was Holly Walker, who played GD and WD during the game. |
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