Romsey netballers had a victory on the road Saturday defeating Wallan 48 to 40.
Romsey coach Lena Way said the game went ‘really well’ for the undermanned Redbacks.
“I was really happy with how my girls performed given we have four girls playing at the moment due to injury and we had player that was a complete fill in who we’ve never trained with before,” she said.
“I also had two B grade players playing up with us so given all of those factors it was really good to get the win.”
Intense defensive pressure caused turnovers in the middle of the court.
The Redbacks started strong, leading the first quarter 15 goals to nine with Uneeq Palavi strong as goal shooter.
Palavi had a great game shooting at 91 per cent and scoring 33 goals.
“Uneeq is an absolute gun. We’re wrapped to have her as a new recruit this season and her physicality is just incredible,” Way said.
“Not only is she tall and strong but she’s got a big leap on her as well, which means she’s able to pull in those lobs and her goaling accuracy is unbelievable especially in those windy conditions out at Wallan.”
Wallan’s Maeve Donegan had a great start to the game shooting at 100 per cent for the first and fourth quarters, finishing with 28 goals overall.
Wallan outscored Romsey in the second quarter with 12 goals to nine, but the Redback’s remained ahead going into the half up 24 to 21.
Donegan continued to play strong against Redback defenders, using her height and movement to create space and separation under the basket.
The game remained close in second half, but the Magpies couldn’t catch up.
“We were just playing to our strategy and playing to our structures that we worked on, which of course is very difficult when you’ve got lots of new players,” Way said.
“But we’ve got some pretty effective set plays and our strategy was to try and work our ball into the circle which we did really well. We got good penetration inside which is something I really asked the girls to focus on.
“We also had great transition from defence into attack so you can’t really ask for much more than that.”
Heading into the second half of the season, Way said the Redbacks had their eye on finals.
“We’ve had a really unfortunate start to the season with injuries, so my goal is to claw our way up the ladder and contend in the final series. That is our goal 100 per cent. We just need a few more wins on the board,” she said.
“We do need to replace one of our defenders, so it has been a very challenging season so far but that’s okay. It’s nothing insurmountable. I feel really positive about the rest of the season.”
Saturday, Romsey have a bye while Wallan have another home game against Macedon.
Lancefield
In a close games Lancefield lost to Melton Centrals on Saturday 37 to 38.
Melton took the lead early in the game, up in the first quarter 11 to eight, but pressure from Lancefield defenders forced Melton’s goal shooter’s accuracy to 37 per cent keeping the Tigers in the game.
The Tigers outscored Melton in the second quarter bringing the game to within two points heading into the half.
The third was a difficult scoring quarter for Lancefield, and despite outscoring Melton 12 to seven in the fourth quarter, the Tigers couldn’t catch up going down by one point.
Lancefield have a home game this Saturday against Diggers Rest.
