Talk with Tina - A week in Netball...

On a bitterly cold night Worthing College went to Brighton to play in the BMW League against Phoenix. We were depleted in numbers due to injury, college work and students work commitments but determined to maintain our unbeaten run. The girls were set a challenge of 60 goals and not to let the opposition get half. The game started well, with Katy Finlay in excellent scoring mood, with excellent feeding from Katie Pearcy, Jodie Beaney and Lizzy Hall. Hannah Pannell continued with her excellent progress as GK and the quarter ended 19 -8.

The opposition made changes at quarter time to try and stop the easy ball into Finlay which worked to some degree but the half time score was 30-13.

Opposition changed again, clarified some rules with the umpires !! however Worthing continued to be the dominant team with the three quarters score 42-20. The girls were reminded of their target but just fell short with the final score 55-27.

We will get to 60 next week girls

Hurst A v Worthing B in the county cup was Wednesday fixture at “Harry Potter's Gaff“ ( coach’s thought on the magnificent setting of the school.) Hurst were the clear favourites as they had finished 2nd to Worthing College at the National Schools tournament at Roedean. The girls were impressed by the swimming pool, indoor sports hall etc etc however we were not overawd and out to give them a good game. The game started very evenly and a neutral would have been hard pressed to know which team was at the Regional Schools Tournament, Emily Begley’s shooting was very accurate and the defensive partnership of Hannah Pannell and Sarah Uncles with the “terrier” Laura Joseph at WD making it very difficult for Hurst. The quarter ended 10-8 to Hurst. The second quarter Worthing took control, forcing Hurst into making errors, Hurst’s coach was in despair and Worthing capitalised ending the quarter with a 2 goal lead 16-14. The girls were told Hurst would come out hard a the start of the third quarter but all we had to do was maintain our discipline, look after the ball and defend every pass. The third quarter was again very tight with Hurst edging it to end the quarter 26-25 in front.

Sadly the fourth quarter was one too many for us, there were some very tired players on the court and Hurst upped their game to take it 33-26.

For me, after the disappointment of the weekend, I could not have been prouder of the girls – they all battled above their weight, worked tirelessly as a team, never blamed the umpire or each other and produced an outstanding performance. The coach at Hurst admitted we had her extremely worried.

Well done girls.

Man of the Match – all 7 of them

Tina