MATCH: Aztec 2 v Hui Hui Kotahi
DATE: Wednesday 28/3/12
RESULT: 39 - 47 Hui Hui Kotahi won
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 (absent) stand-in Vaivasa Fatialofa MANAGER: Lucy Bremner
STARTING LINE UP:
Otene GS, Inkster GA, Page WA, White C, Hemi WD, Spence GD, Beazley-Tango GK.
BENCH:
Lendrum, O’Malley, Bilton, Warren.
Coach Wendy Bremner was in Wellington for work this week and is grateful to Vaivasa Fatialofa for taking the team tonight and for the report
Aztec lost the first centre pass, and took a couple of minutes to get into the game, but once settled found our rhythm and opened up the court, giving good space for the ball to come down to our shooters. Our feeders did a good job getting the ball to them.Otene was a little tentative in the circle but Inkster had the rebounds covered and there was good movement with Otene running the base really well, and Inkster front cutting through the top of the circle nicely. Defensively, they worked really hard on their own players, at times we let our opposition have a bit too much room to run around - but when we chose to give them less space we restricted a lot better. 1st quarter score: 8 - 8 Draw
No changes in the second quarter - Our feeders weren't getting onto the edge of the circle as much, which forced a few stray passes when feeding . Page worked hard to get the ball at the centre pass, and came through to help when needed bringing the ball down from our defensive end. Our attackers, worked their angles a bit more, and it really worked for us, however anything aerial was eaten up by their defence. Defensively, our back two (GK & GD) though successful occasionally, were finding it a bit difficult to get ball from the tall shooter. Hemi was a little rocket, there for any intercept worth a look. They scored two more goals than us 11-13 taking the 1/2 time score to 19 - 21 to HHK
Still in grading we wanted to make sure all the players got some court time, so brought Warren on at GD, Lendrum at WD, Bilton to WA and O’Malley to GS. We were a little guilty of waiting for the ball to come to us, rather than taking our feet to the ball giving the opposition enough time to take a few intercepts. Warren opted to hang back to help put pressure on the tall shooter, but unfortunately it didn’t have the desired affect in this instance. Lendrum had an awesome game sticking to her WA with her uncanny defensive style awesome to watch! O’Malley came on well, shot well and worked good with Inkster. Bilton and White continued to work hard but at times lost sight of where each other were. Unfortunately this third quarter really cost us because we failed to drive onto the ball, and were a bit too loose on defence. We ended up with a 6 goal difference in this quarter as they converted their attempts to points but we only managed to sink half of ours. ( 7-13). Third quarter score 26 - 34 to HHK
Going into the final quarter we made one change with Spence back on at GD . Heads were down, but the girls fought hard defensively right to the final whistle. Spence and Beazley-Tango gave everything in the air a go. On attack we threw a few balls out the back, and were still a bit guilty of waiting for the ball to come to us. But the players worked a lot harder to get themselves onto the top of the circle to feed their shooters. The whole team worked hard together and when the basics were done, it worked well for us. A drawn quarter again with 13 goals a piece in a fast paced final 15 minutes. Final Score Aztec Two defeated 39 - 47 by Hui Hui Kotahi
Overall, although it was a loss - we have lots to take from that game, two drawn quarters and one the difference of a break. We need to maintain consistency in all periods of play and have loads of potential. As each player learns about strengths and weaknesses of the other and builds on combinations we can only get stronger..