A strong first half set up Wairarapa College’s comfortable 47–31 win over Jo Kelly and Co Carterton Maroon in the second round of the Netball Wairarapa Premier One Championship.
The students led by 21 after the first two quarters, only for Carterton Maroon to fight back and close the gap by five goals in the second half.
Although satisfied with the result, Waicol coach Keely Riwai-Couch wants more focus from her team for the full 60 minutes.
“I’m happy, but they beat us by five in the second half, and there’s always room for improvement, and part of that is not just the play on the court but the head part of it, keeping switched on, keeping focussed, and finding that oomph to keep pushing us,” Riwai-Coach said.
“It was a bit of a step into the unknown because there are changes in all the teams, and in the past, you knew who would be in the top four, so I didn’t how we would go, but we did really well.”
Riwai-Couch put the victory down to a solid all-court game, and the margin of victory also gave her the chance to experiment.
“We had some nice work all the way through the court; the shooters did well, the defence, I was able to mix it up, and I think there were three or four different ones in there and I think consistency through the middle of the court, too.”
I’m happy that’s two wins to start the season, and they were quite convincing
Celtic got the defence of their championship underway with a 48-34 win over Ōpaki Vixens, and Jo Kelly and Co Carterton Old Girls had too much experience for Gladstone Tauweru, coming away with a 50–29 victory.
POINTS
Wairarapa College, Carterton Old Girls 8; Celtic 4; Carterton Maroon, Ōpaki Vixens, Gladstone Tauweru 0.
