The Eastern Cape Aloes maintained their winning momentum on day two of the Telkom Netball League when they defeated the Northern Cape diamonds 56-47. Player of the match, Aloes Goal Shooter- Jody Vorster was in a league of her own, dominating the shooting circle and making every goal count. A very competitive first quarter saw both teams being separated by just one goal, but the Aloes put their foot on the accelerator, leading the third quarter 49-37. The Diamonds won the last quarter 10-7 but that last minute fire power didn’t make much of a difference on the scoreboard at the end of the game.
‘I said to the players they must tell me what they did good and which areas we can improve on in these matches. The difference between yesterday and today’s game is that we worked on keeping our own center pass and remained focused throughout the game’, Aloes coach- Sameshia Esau commented after the game. Diamonds coach- Karien Opperman says her girls are still on the right track: ‘In netball, it’s not always about winning but it’s about how you perform, and they really performed well for me’.
The North West Flames opened their campaign with a 46-53 defeat against the Southern Stings this morning. The Flames only managed to win just four out of ten games last year under coach Dr Elsje Jordaan who is now the U21 coach. Stings coach- Annelie Lucas made four changes to her starting seven for today’s game following yesterday’s defeat against the Gauteng Jaguars and opted for different combinations which certainly worked in her favour.
Flames coach- Lizelle Erasmus is confident that her team will pull out all the stops moving forward: ‘It’s always hard luck losing your first game. Even though the Flames have been playing for a long time, I have got ten new players and they are all hungry for success. I think first game jitters came into play because I utilised the whole bench, and everybody got a taste of this, so I am excited to see what’s coming’.
It all went down to the wire as the Tornados clinched a last minute 47-41 victory against the Mpumalanga Sunbirds. The Sunbirds led the first three quarters, but it was the Tornados who stepped up their game and took advantage of their turnovers in the last five minutes of the game to open up the gap between the two sides. Tornados coach- Danlee Matthews commended her team for their tenacity: ‘The girls’ fitness in the last quarter pulled through for me. The fact that they could think clear and be clinical after fumbling a lot in the first two quarters. We were not focused but that all changed in the last two quarters’.
Two more games to look forward to this afternoon:
Gauteng Jaguars vs Kingdom Stars at 15:00 LIVE on SuperSport Variety 4
Kingdom Queens vs Eastern Cape Comets at 17:00 LIVE on SuperSport Variety 4
