3rd team battle on to the end

The new look 3rd team looked a bit shell shocked in the first quarter of the match as they struggled with the physical intensity of the opposition. Not having played together as a team, and being mostly young and less experienced, it took them a while to settle down in the front court and to get up to speed in defence. This resulted in Harmony storming into an 11-3 lead at the quarter time.

Some switches at quarter time seem to work, and with Pia Hooker and Alice Bartholomew starting to work better together in the shooting circle the front court settled down. Alice made some powerful moves and was always alert as she stood up physically to the demands in the circle. With twin Hannah Bartholomew moving to centre, the feeds in were more composed and together with Lois Marks at WA the front court defence was pretty fierce.

Elena Salenius was working extremely hard at GD, with her high work rate forcing errors from the Harmony attack and Denise Grant started to come into her own with a number of tips and pick ups. At half time the score was 24-11 to Harmony.

In the third quarter Jessica Clark was introduced into the shooting circle at GA with Alice moving to GS. The pair were both moving well in the circle trying to create space for each other but the Harmony defence were determined and able to spoil a number of promising attacks as they were just a little more powerful onto the ball.

Lola Wheeler was reintroduced at C, and the space allowed her more freedom to drive through the court, and she looked much more composed on the circle edge. Lois was also showing good timing and making herself available as the ball came through the court. Going into the last quarter the score was 31-14 to Harmony and Club really needed to dig in to get over half the opposition score and the all important extra point.

The team really came out with all guns blazing and their superior fitness started to tell. Rebecca Clayton had played very strongly for the first half at WD but really came into her own as she moved to GD, making interceptions galore and taking vital rebounds. She also brought the ball up the court well in a supporting role. With Hannah Bartholomew putting on a tight man to man defence, Harmony were finding it more difficult to bring the ball to goal.

In the attack, Jess was using her good footwork to pop out under the post and both her and Alice were shooting accurately as the team fought to reduce the deficit. The hard work and perseverance from the whole team paid off as they won the last quarter by 8-6. This meant the final score was 37-22 and the extra point was secure.