It may have been a top versus bottom clash
in the final round but ETSA Contax displayed no mercy in defeating Stellar
Homes Garville 62-35 at Netball SA Stadium on Friday night.
As the two teams celebrated their 60 year
rivalry the Contax showed that the occasion and their last placed opposition
would not distract them into complacency, as they continued on to complete a
perfect season in the minor rounds.
But if the dominant Contax display and
final margin were not warning enough, than the thought of Contax coach Leanne
Eichler saying that her side still had improvement in them definitely is.
“We always say that you’ve got to be better
than you were in your last performance.” She said.
“We could still value the ball a lot more
and it is probably just our finesse in passes, we sometimes do miss the target
or give the defender a bit of a sniff, so we have to improve on that.”
Their major semi-final opponents, the
Contours Matrics, watched on in the stands and would have struggled to identify
any weaknesses as the Contax demolished Garville by 27 goals.
The Contax clicked into gear right from the
opening whistle scoring the opening 6 goals of the match. Garville struggled to
penetrate the Contax defence but soon scored 3 of their own to reduce the lead
to 3 goals.
The Contax ball movement and speed down the
court wasn’t allowing the Garville defenders time to get into good defensive
position giving their shooters, Casey Gregory and Chelsea Lemke plenty of
freedom in the circle. At quarter time they had amassed 18 goals to Garville’s
8.
Play was a bit scrappy to start the second
quarter with only 2 goals going down in the first 3 minutes. Garville WA Hannah
Horlin-Smith was busy for her side but Garville couldn’t convert turnover
opportunities.
Once again the ladder leaders hit their
stride continuing their quick game play. While Garville put in their best
efforts, Contax continued to dominate across the court taking a 15 goal lead
into halftime.
The third quarter was looking all too
familiar as Contax increased their lead to 21 goals mid-way through the
quarter.
The Contax defensive trio of Georgia
Beaton, Jane Fitzgerald and Bianca Reddy were showing no mercy and combined
well with C Lauren Hyde and WA Madeleine Proud to get the ball moving on
transitional play. At the final break their lead was 24 goals.
The two sides went goal for goal for much
of the last quarter as fatigue began to set in. However, Contax continued their
excellent team performance to stretch their lead to 26 goals with a few minutes
remaining.
Garville would not give in, though, and continued
to make Contax work right up until the final whistle. At fulltime the margin
was 27 goals.
The Contax clearly had finals in mind and
were looking to gain as much as they could out of their final round match.
“Tonight was all about sticking to a game
plan and doing what we do because it was an important game for our finals preparation,”
coach Leanne Eichler said.
“Matrics had the week off, so we needed to
make sure we tried to stay one step ahead of them and use this game as a
purpose.
“Probably our first and third quarters were
our best on turnover rates. We did make the most it and that’s what you’ve got
to do when it comes to finals because you won’t get as many.”
One feature of Garville’s play throughout
their season had been their never say die attitude and although trailing by
such a large margin continued their commitment to the final whistle. A facet of
their game they should all be very proud of.
Coach Jackie Blyth said that along with her
side’s commitment she saw them improve as the season went on.
“As the season has progressed we’ve got
better and better and I think if there were more games to go we would improve,”
she said.
“To me it’s about trying to put some
knowledge and unity amongst the side for next year.
“We’ve re-signed everybody for next year
and I’m really pleased about that because the youth coming through, long-term,
is going to help us. The core of the team we’ve got this year will really be
super-competitive next year.”
In the other final round matches, The Royal
Cougars prevailed in their match against Woods Panthers to consolidate fourth
spot on the ladder and move into to the finals winning, 53-46. Health and Life
Phoenix and Spring Gully Newton Jaguars played out the third draw for the
season with the final result 50-50.
The semi-finals will be played at Netball
SA Stadium on Thursday the 26th of July at 8:30pm. Court 1 will
feature the major semi-final between ETSA Contax and Contours Matrics while the
minor semi final between The Royal Cougars and Health and Life Phoenix will be
held at the same time on court 3.
Quarter-by-quarter
scores:
Q1: Contax 18 – 8 Garville
Q2: Contax 33 – 18 Garville
Q3: Contax 48 – 24 Garville
Q4: Contax 62 – 35 Garville
Match
Shooting Stats:
Contax 62/81 76.54%
C. Gregory: 30/36
83.33%
C. Lemke: 32/45
71.11%
Garville 35/41 85.37%
G. Virgo: 21/24
87.50%
C. Drogemuller: 6/6 100%
H. Edge: 8/11
72.73%
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