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Yarrawonga 65 def Albury 42
In absolutely sublime netballing conditions on Sunday, the Pigeon’s A graders went into the elimination final with high confidence against the hopeful Tigers on their home court.
The first quarter commenced with some nerves from both teams creating a pinballing scoreline while all players got used to the tempo and the umpires’ expectations.
At quarter time, some strong words from co-coaches Kait Cummins and Laura Irvine saw the team return to the court with renewed passion, and they never looked back from here.
The defensive pressure from Annalise Grinter and Bec Carlyle was the tightest we’ve seen all year, with fancy footwork and body-on-body pressure being the keys to their success, not allowing either opposition shooter to feel comfortable for the entire game.
Indi Fraunfelder was almost flawless for the entire 60 minutes, stabilising the goaling circle with strong drives and extremely accurate shooting seeing her miss only one goal from 23 attempts at 96%.
Laura Irvine and Caitlin O’Dwyer were relentless on their opposition for the entire game and gained multiple turnovers each.
The third quarter saw the Tigers make a few changes in defence to counter the scoring pressure they were receiving, which allowed goal shooter Elle Brooks to come into her own, making the opposition pay with strong hands, athleticism in the air well beyond her young years and confidence in spades.
The premiership quarter was won by 15 goals, seeing the Yarra girls ahead by 20 at three-quarter time. In the final term the young guns continued to fire, with Tilly Kennedy and Lily Sharp taking multiple impressive intercepts and the Albury girls simply had no answers for the fantastic style of play of the Pigeons.
A truly exciting brand of netball being played at the perfect time of the year for this impressive team. They will now play Lavington at North Albury next Sunday, always a stellar contest and one to look forward to.
Best – Rebecca Carlyle, Elle Brooks.
Qualifying Final –C Grade vs Corowa Rutherglen
Yarrawonga 51 def Corowa-Rutherglen 47
With a warm day predicted at Corowa, the C-graders took on season improvers Corowa-Rutherglen on their home court knowing that this would be no walk in the park.
The first quarter saw the Pigeons get off to a slow start with strong shooting from the opposition seeing the Kangas ahead by 8 at quarter time. Some words of wisdom by the coaching staff saw key defenders Georgia Lawless and Tayla Bogle strengthen their structure in the second, and the injection of best-on-court Caitlin Dwyer into wing-defence caused multiple gains for the Pigeons, and shook the confidence of the opposition irreparably.
With levelled scorelines at half and three-quarter time, no further changes were made to the line-up, and in the end it was Maddy Kennedy standing tall in goal attack in the final term creating scoring opportunities which made the difference.
With some important turnovers being converted to goals on the scoreboard, goal shooter Eliza York was also strong, shooting an impressive 42 goals for the match, with strong feeding from Zoe Jones and Bree Bailey.
At the final siren, the Pigeons had posted a 4-goal win to get through to semi-final week where they will take on Lavington at Birralee Park on Saturday.
18°C