MATCH:        Aztec 2          v             Marist 1

DATE:          Wednesday 14/3/12

RESULT:      Aztec won 56 - 51

TEAM:
Alison White, Ariana Page, Chelsea Bilton, Josephine Otene, Luana Beazley-Tango, Ngamira Warren, Nicola O’Malley, Sara Lendrum, Sarah Inkster, Shaiann Hemi, Tracey Spence

COACH:  Wendy Bremner                                MANAGER:  Lucy Bremner

STARTING LINE UP:
O’Malley GS, Inkster GA, Page WA, White C, Bilton WD, Warren GD, Spence GK.

BENCH:
Otene, Beazley-Tango, Lendrum, Hemi.

The first quarter was fast paced. Inkster was strong in the circle however O’Malley struggled with her accuracy. Aztec managed to maintain possession through some strong defensive work by Spence and Bilton achieving turnovers at crucial moments. After 15 minutes there was only one goal separating the teams. First 1/4 Score:  11 - 10 Aztec

Bilton moved to attack, Beazley-Tango came on at GD and Hemi came on at WD. A much stronger quarter by O’Malley who found the hoop 9 times from 13 attempts, well supported by perfect shooting goal attack Inkster 6 from 6. Beazley-Tango had an immediate impact achieving 5 intercepts. Spence maintained her first quarter form and continued to put pressure on the Marist shooters. By half time the gap had widened slightly to 3. 1/2 Time Score 26 - 23 Aztec

Inkster moved to GS, Bilton to GA, Page came back on at WA, Lendrum came on at WD, and Otene at GD with Beazley-tango moving back to GK, the only unchanged position in this quarter was White at C. The fresh legs added more speed and the pace lifted in the 3rd quarter. Inkster was outstanding with a perfect shooting effort again scoring 13 from 13 with Bilton adding options and scoring 6 from 10. White and Page worked hard feeding the ball into their shooters and Lendrum achieved two key intercepts. Missed attempts by Marist shooters were gobbled up by Beazley-Tango and the gap increased by another 5 to 8. 3rd Quarter Score:  45 - 37 Aztec

Bremner was keen for each player to have at least a half game in this initial game. OMalley came back on to GS, Hemi moved to WA, Warren came on at GK. Lendrum worked hard again intercepting two balls for much needed turnovers. Physicality increased in the last quarter as did unforced errors. Just before the end of the final quarter White had to leave the court through injury and Page came back on at WA with Hemi moving to C. This quarter was quite messy and ball was at times squandered by Aztec. Marist took full advantage clawing back the lead by breaking our centre pass twice and reducing the gap to 5 at the final whistle.

Nice to get the first game of the season under our belt. Good skills were displayed, it was fast paced with a high score rate and closely contested. It augurs well for the season ahead and we look forward to next week’s match.