Three teams still unbeaten
2008-08-05 21:17
Pretoria - Only three teams - Western Province, Free State and Griqualand West - were still unbeaten at the end of the second day's play at the Spar National Netball Championships at the Tuks Indoor Sports Centre on Tuesday.
Griqualand West, newly promoted to the A-section, continued their winning ways on Tuesday, with a 47-39 win over the other A-section newcomers, Gauteng West. Griquas went into the lead early on, leading 23-15 at halftime, and never looked like losing.
Boland and Free State provided what was probably the match of the day, with Free State running out 33-27 winners. Boland fought hard, and often appeared to be about to challenge for the lead, but Free State, ably led by Karin Venter, kept their noses in front throughout.
They led eight-three after the first quarter, 15-11 at half-time, and 25-20 after the third quarter. The match was scrappy at times, with both teams making unnecessary mistakes, and a stoppage to repair a damaged net in the final quarter did not help either team to keep the ball moving fluently.
However, Free State coach Burta de Kock said she was satisfied with the win and particularly with her defenders.
"Our defence in the circle was brilliant and without that, Boland could have got closer to us," she said.
She would not be drawn on which teams she thought would provide the stiffest opposition.
Closely fought match
"All the teams in this section of the tournament are strong," she said. "All the games are going to be tough and we are just taking it one game at a time."
Another closely fought match was between Gauteng Central and Western Province. Gauteng Central led until half-time, but Province came back strongly in the second half. At times, the two teams were level-pegging, and were 39-all after the third quarter, but Province pulled ahead in the final minutes to win the match 51-49.
In other matches played on Tuesday, defending champions Gauteng North beat Gauteng West 32-21, Western Province beat Gauteng East 42-25, Boland beat Gauteng Central 43-38, Free State beat Nelson Mandela Bay (formerly Eastern Province) 34-24 and North West South beat Gauteng East 38-36.
The match that is likely to attract most interest on Wednesday is the encounter between Free State and Western Province at 10:00, while the afternoon match between hosts Gauteng North and their southern neighbours Gauteng Central will probably also be a humdinger. The other unbeaten team, Griqualand West, will take on Gauteng East in the early afternoon match.
- SAPA