It was a thrilling opening round of action in the Picola District Netball League on Saturday, April 2, with some close contests around the courts.
Tungamah and Katandra played out an absolute thriller at Tungamah, with the game going down to the wire.
The 45 to 40 victory was hard-fought, with a Katandra piling the pressure on the home side in the final term.
However, the Bears were simply too strong, with a solid first three quarters enough to see them across the line.
Tungamah coach Jayanna Sharp said it was a good start to the season.
“Definitely lots of positives and definitely lots of things that we can work on going forward and a positive start to the season I suppose,” she said.
Sharp said her side came out strong, with a one goal quarter-time lead progressing to a nine goal margin by half-time and a 12 goal break at the final break.
“In the last quarter we kind of ran out of legs a bit and Katanda kind of maintained the momentum and got back into a five goal ending of the game,” she said.
“We put a good three quarters of netball out on the court yesterday and we lapsed a little bit in the last, probably, eight minutes.”
Chelsea Sidebottom was best on court in the game, while Chloe Lewis also performed well.
Tungamah’s win was not the only close contest of the round, with Waaia getting it done against Strathmerton away from home.
The Bombers led the Bulldogs throughout the entire contest and coach Milly Foster said the side was excited to get over the line.
“I think we went into it knowing we had nothing to lose, I think Strathy was probably the favourite going in but we just kind of held each other accountable, went out with lots of voice and I think by the first quarter we were up by seven or something like that,” she said.
Foster said that lots of talk helped the side across the line, with the Bombers getting around each other.
“I think it just made a huge difference knowing that one another was supporting each other,” she said.
“I think there’s still so much to work on but it just makes us quite excited because we’ve got great potential so our goal just is to build from here, hopefully get another win next week and keep going from there.”
Chelsea Thorne was a standout for Waaia, as was Taylor Trimby who had a ‘blinder’ through the midcourt in her first game back after a couple of years off.
In other games, Rennie was too good for Mathoura away from home, running out convincing 27-66 winners.
Jerilderie got it done at Blighty, beating the home side in convincing fashion, 22-51, and Katunga smashed Deni, 25-62 in Deni.
Tocumwal and Katamatite had the week off.