Thursday, 10 May 2012

Third quarter ambush gives The Royal Cougars win over Spring Gully Newton Jaguars


An astonishing third quarter in the round 9 Subway Cup match between The Royal Cougars and Spring Gully Newton Jaguars has moved the Cougars to fourth spot after their 57-50 win on Tuesday night at Netball SA Stadium.

After being behind by 7 goals at half time the Cougars put on 20 goals to the Jaguars’ 5 in the third quarter to build their own lead of 8 goals by the final break.

It was an incredible turn around from the Cougars, who struggled for rhythm during the entire first half and won just one quarter in the match.

Both sides settled into to the first quarter by scoring on centre pass possession for much of the quarter. The Jaguars eventually built a small lead after taking advantage of loose passing from the Cougars.

Jaguar’s keeper Jenna Mendo was at her intercepting best, plucking long passes out of the air and shutting down Cougars possession. GA Jess Hazel was also in good form shooting the Jaguars out to a 5-goal lead at quarter time.

Discipline in defence was a problem for the Cougars in the first quarter and this continued, as Jaguars C Nicole Wood and WA Shannon Penn, combined well at the edge of the circle.

As the Jaguars mid-court focussed on good ball movement, they extended their lead to 7 goals at half time and appeared in total control of the match.

However, after controlling the first half and sensing the Cougars’ frustration, the Jaguars’ intensity dropped inviting the Cougars back into the game.

After making 4 positional changes, the Cougars clicked into gear across the court and were led well by WA Leigh Waddington. Their defensive pressure lifted and GK Sarah Klau and GD Amehlia Schmidt were showing much better discipline in the defensive circle.

The Cougars had all the momentum after completely dominating the quarter and led by 8 goals at the final break.

The final quarter was an intense and even battle as the Jaguars put a miserable third quarter behind them. They threatened the lead numerous times but could not ruffle a composed Cougars side that defended their lead well.

Cougars GS Jess Roberts shot extremely well for the match scoring 45 goals and providing a good target for the Cougars front-line, GA Joanne Nixon and C Ashton Hurn combined well with Waddington with usual centre Sammy Nutt absent.

Cougars coach Scott Waddington was noticeably happy after a close loss to the ETSA Contax just three days earlier.

“We were struggling at half time, patches of the game we were in it but Jags were playing extremely well so we had to do something at half time and change it up.

“We got a good result in that third quarter, 20 goals to 5 is quite amazing against such a good side.

“We weren’t flowing through our transitions. We were getting turnovers at the back but just couldn’t score from them. The best way we could fix that was introducing fresh legs and with Sammy Nutt missing, we had to try a few different things and it payed off for us.” He Said.

Jaguars coach Jude Andrewartha was disappointed and though complacency may have affected her side in the third quarter.

“I think we dropped our intensity in the third quarter and probably got a little bit complacent because we felt we had a good lead and our intensity dropped.”

“We worked very hard for the 15 minutes in each quarter of the first half but it was more about thinking we had a commanding lead.”

In the other round 9 matches, Contours Matrics defeated Garville 67-50 and ETSA Contax continued their unbeaten run battling Woods Panthers to a 52-32 victory.

Quarter-by-quarter scores:

Q1:   Jaguars  15 – 10  Cougars

Q2:   Jaguars  30 – 23  Cougars

Q3:   Jaguars  35 – 43  Cougars

Q4:   Jaguars  50 – 57  Cougars


Shooting Percentages:

Cougars   57/75   76%

J. Roberts:   45/54   83.33%

S. Carver:   5/10   50%

J. Nixon:   7/11   63.64%


Jaguars   50/69   72.46%

E. Van Den Munckhof:   13/23   56.52%

J. Hazel:   34/42   80.95%

S. Penn:   3/4   75%




No comments: