Premier netball frontrunners stretch their legs

Two blow-out scores marked round two of the Marlborough premier netball competition tonight.

With a couple of the competition favourites coming up against lower-ranked sides the scorelines were expected to be wide apart and so it proved.

In the evening’s first match reigning champs Pelorus took on a relatively inexperienced Marlborough Girls’ College side, who struggled for cohesion on week one.

The Dark Blues showed no mercy to the students, breezing through the first two quarters to establish a 39-11 lead at the halfway point.

With Pelorus making a raft of changes at the break, MGC slowly regained their confidence in both attack and defence, holding their slick rivals to a 12-9 third stanza.

However, just when it seemed the students were making ground and would finish with a confidence boost, they struggled throughout the final quarter, being unable to register a single goal as Pelorus, with defenders Oriana Houra, Izzy Tupouto’a and Brittney Lyons leading the way, upped the ante.

Despite the final scoreline of 68-20 there were enough aspects of MGC’s play to draw confidence from, especially when they manage to get their full roster out on court. Jah’Bree MacDonald, Tilly Tupouto’a and Anna Hurren were the standouts for College.

Pelorus coach Tash Cook rang the changes throughout, trying a variety of combinations, and will be pleased with the depth of talent available to her this campaign.

The other competition match was a Harlequins derby, Totalspan romping to an 80-9 victory over their Grove Tavern stablemates.

The more experienced Quins side dominated from the outset, with players new to the team this season, such as Jorja Bacchus, Zara Jopson, Aleisha Smith, Mickayla Avant and Delyth James-Sitters, beginning to find their feet and forge new, effective combinations.

It was a tough night for Grove Tavern, who never stopped trying but will have to adapt quickly to the speed of play in the Tuesday night grade.

The evening’s final match was between Tokomaru and the Marlborough Men’s combination, ending 47-42 to the men.

It was a relatively even clash, both sides winning two quarters and putting up exactly the same number of shots at goal, the men’s shooting percentage slightly better.

Scores:

Pelorus Edridge Contracting 68 (Paige Lovell 31/36, Courtney Taufa 22/32, Laura Evans 15/26) Marlborough Girls’ College Liquid Action 20 (Jaye Wiapo 9/16, Anna Hurren 11/15). Quarter scores (winning team first): 21-4, 18-7, 12-9, 17-0.

Harlequins Totalspan 80 (Celine Barnes 14/16, Lauren Murray 13/22, Jorja Bacchus 53/65) Harlequins Grove Tavern 9 (Tegan Bayley 5/7, Monja Oberholzer 1/10, Kaya Walsh 2/2, Aston Underwood 1/2). Quarter scores (winning team first): 22-1, 16-4, 20-0, 22-4.

Marlborough Men 47 (Luke Richardson 23/34, Shiloh Walsh 24/38) Tokomaru 42 (Jade Shallcrass 25/46, Kayla Wilson 17/26). Quarter scores (winning team first): 14-9, 13-8, 11-12, 9-13.

Points: Pelorus 6, Harlequins Totalspan 3, MGC 3, Tokomaru 0, Harlequins Grove Tavern 0.