NETBALL
THE heat seemed to take its toll during round two of the Regional State League netball competition in Churchill on Friday night.
In the open division, Gippsland’s absent shooter Ramayer Gourley was replaced by Jayde Travers who proved a handy recruit for the match against Morwell Indoor Red.
Morwell was unable to keep up with the highly skilled team and went down in a 39-goal drubbing.
Morwell Indoor Navy posted its first win of the season by overcoming North Gippsland.
Defender Lexi Bowe was judged best on court for her job on nullifying North’s shooters and Rachel Allison distributed the ball well from midcourt.
By half-time Morwell had scored 38 goals to North’s 14.
In the 17 and under division, Sale opened its account by pulling away from Mid Gippsland after an evenly contested first half.
Mid Gippsland was right in the match but Sale gradually surged ahead to lead 33-25 with a quarter to play.
Alberton had a convincing win over North Gippsland after a disappointing result in round one.
Best on court was Alberton’s Alana Hanegraff who controlled the contests around the middle.
Superior speed coupled with scoreboard pressure seemed to undo North Gippsland.
Gippsland was too strong bringing the Pakenham girls back down to earth with a thump.
Gippsland was able to control the game with accurate shooting and taking advantage of loose and careless passing from Pakenham with the end score 65-40.
Centre court player Paige Biddle received best on court.
Round three of the open division will see Gippsland meet Alberton.
Both teams have good reason to be confident coming off strong wins.
