Kiwis 44 v 35 Ness
Ness won the toss and took the first centre which they used to their advantage. Playing with confidence and working well as a unit, Ness were looking the brighter team. Accurate shooting from Estella Smith and Sarah Kissick allowed Ness to capitalise on turnovers. Kiwis didn’t let the score get away from them though and dug in deep with good attacking play from Sanna Aitken and Libby Fox at WA and C. The score after the first quarter was 13-8 in favour of Ness.
Kiwis came into the second quarter ready to fight to claw back the score. Rhianne Colvin and Dawn Manson were moving well and showing good accuracy under the post and the defensive unit of Lauren Smith, Natasha Tulloch and Maisie Unsworth were starting to win some more turnovers in the Ness attacking end. Good attacking play from both teams through the midcourt led to some strong passages of play and all was still to play for at half time when the score was level at 20-20.
Both teams brought on fresh legs for the third quarter, but the changes seemed to work in Kiwis favour. Sanna Aitken was feeding the shooting circle accurately and Colvin was showing great composure and managed a 4 goal run to set Kiwis off on the front foot. Ness weren’t going to go down without a fight though and Smith was able to shoot from long range to keep the Ness score ticking over. Despite an unfortunate injury to Natasha Tulloch for Kiwis, who had been playing a huge part in shutting down the Ness attack, Kiwis managed to build a strong lead with Brenda Leask slotting seamlessly into GK for them. The score going into the final quarter was 34-26 to Kiwis.
Aimee Budge returned to the Ness line up for the final quarter and showed determination and good skill to win ball for her team. Ness didn’t give up and both teams kept fighting to the final whistle in what was a strongly contested game by both teams. Mother and daughter defensive pairing Michaela and Ruth Christie worked well together to pick up any loose balls in the Kiwis shooting circle but these were few and far between with Manson and Colvin shooting accurately. The final quarter was evenly matched leaving the final score 44-35 to Kiwis. Players of the match were Sanna Aitken for Kiwis and Aimee Budge for Ness.