The Southern Stings caused an upset in a very dramatic encounter against the Free State Crinums with a 37-36 victory. It was the Crinums who had the upper hand with a one goal lead in the second and third quarter after both teams played to an 8 all draw in the first quarter. The Stings went for different combinations after making 10 changes in total in the third quarter but little did they know that this would set them up for a nail-biting finish.
The intensity of the match accelerated in the last five minutes of the game with the ball moving from end to end with a lot of mistakes being made in both shooting circles but either side failing to convert the turnovers. Annelie Lucas side scored the winning goal in the final 15 seconds to move up the Division A log and register their second win of the tournament.
‘’We had quite a lot of turnovers, but we didn’t convert them and those are mistakes that shouldn’t happen. We were quick to turn their balls and very quick to lose our center passes and those are little mistakes that we cannot have’’, Crinums vice-captain Sikholiwe Mdletshe commented after the match.
Meanwhile, a one hundred percent goal percentage between Kingdom Queens goal shooter Nomfundo Mngomezulu and goal attack Sinethemba Mkhize in the first quarter against the Eastern Cape Aloes had no impact as the Queens suffered a 34-39 defeat. The Aloes led all four quarters but were given a run for their money in the third quarter when the Queens closed the gap to 26-25. Aloes coach- Sameshia Esau called for strategic time-out in the last three minutes despite her team leading by 3 goals at the time trying to avoid the same narrative that happened against the Sunbirds in their previous match, losing that game by one goal.
Another close match saw the Mpumalanga Sunbirds sneak in a 32-29 victory over the Limpopo Baobabs in the last ninety seconds of the game. The Limpopo side looked much better than their previous games, holding the Sunbirds to an 8 all draw in the first quarter and leading 25-24 in the third quarter. However, this does not mean much as this is their fourth defeat in Division B and will remain at the bottom of the log.
Baobabs captain- Nthabiseng Mothutsi was proud of her team’s display today: ‘’For this game, we just went back to the drawing board and made sure that we fix every mistake that we have made in the last three games and our team spirit and courage showed at the end’’.
