The Gauteng Jaguars and Southern Stings held each other to a 35 all draw in a fast-paced match in the Telkom Netball League earlier this morning. The Stings had a very strong start to the game making use of all their center passes as they took the lead in the first three quarters however a few basic errors in the last two minutes of the third quarter saw the defending champions equalizing and the score was locked at 25 all.
The Stings fighting spirit still gave them a 28-25 lead in the third quarter and at this point it looked like things were going their way but the last two minutes of the match had both coaches holding their breaths as the Jaguars levelled the game. The final 60 seconds included a plethora of careless mistakes in the Jaguars shooting circle but, Venetia Grobler and Chantelle Swart kept missing under the pole and missed the opportunity to give the team their fourth consecutive victory.
Stings coach- Annelie Lucas utilized almost her entire bench to get results: ‘’That’s what you need to win this competition, I needed to know where the Jaguar’s soft spots are and with combination changes, I could see this today. I knew that today is not a championship game, but I need to know what I need to know, to win this competition with my girls’’.
Jenny van Dyk- Jaguars coach believes the Western Cape side were out for revenge: ‘’Definitely a little bit of revenge from the Stings team because of last year’s TNL final so obviously they wanted to get back at us. That emotion is done and sealed but we still managed to level the score and didn’t lose the game, so I’m very proud of the girls’’.
The Northern Cape Diamonds continued with their winning ways with a 44-40 win over the Kingdom Queens. The Diamonds started the tournament with a defeat against the Mpumalanga Sunbirds in their opening game but went on to win their second game yesterday, which was their first win in the TNL since 2016. Karien Opperman’s side will next take on the Tornados Sunday afternoon at 3.
Meanwhile, the Free State Crinums staged a dramatic onslaught in the last quarter to beat the North West Flames 42-39. The Flames took advantage of the unforced errors made by the Free State side and lead from quarter one to three. A different Crinums side showed up in the final quarter with lots of character to win the game by three goals. Crinums coach- Burta de Kock is grateful for the inexperience players that stepped up: ‘’I’m very proud of the players because the youngsters stepped up, sometimes coaches focus on using experienced players and forget that the babies just want to take to court and prove themselves’’.
