Bookended by two dominant quarters and superior accuracy in the shooting circle, Central Manawa opened their Synergy Hair Netball League with an impressive win over Waikato-BOP.
Manawa led at every break and despite a scare from WBOP in the third quarter, pushed on for a 57-46 win at Te Rauparaha Arena in Porirua on Sunday.
Captain Parris Mason said she was “extremely proud” of all 10 players on her bench who all had court time in the Round 3 match.
“I think it was an absolute team contribution out there and our aim was to fight to the very end, and I think we did that,” she said.
“We’ve aligned our structures with the Pulse, and we’ve worked so hard, so it was good to get out there for a good team performance.”
WBOP went goal-for-goal with their opponents in the first five minutes of play, but a couple of unforced errors gave Manawa the opportunity for an early lead with Pulse shooter Amelia Walmsley converting for a 6-3 advantage.
The ANZ Premiership shooter dominated the opening spell as she provided a strong target for her patient feeders and netted all 16 of her attempts at goal as Manawa opened a 17-10 buffer at quarter time.
WBOP stand-in coach Te Aroha Keenan made one positional change heading into the second quarter with defender Amy Christophers, who is returning to elite netball having been a part of the Magic squad in 2010, moved to goal keeper to negate the height of Walmsley, with Hannah Ridling shifting to goal defence.
Young WBOP shooter Summer Parekura-Kingi made a solid start to her national league debut having only been called into the environment as a training partner this year but elevated into a starting spot for the Synergy Hair league match.
A string of goals after the break saw the visitors slash the gap to just four goals before Manawa shifted gear again thanks to the defensive pressure from Danielle Tafili and Mason, as well as the strong connections through court led by an MVP performance from Renee Matoe.
Manawa extended their advantage to 11 goals by the main break, leading 31-20, but WBOP returned to the court with plenty of punch on attack as they looked to make a dent in the margin.
Parekura-Kingi moved out to goal attack with Grace McLean taking the shooter’s bib – the duo working well in their first outing together – as WBOP applied its own defensive pressure in all areas, led by Ridling who shifted further out to wing defence.
The accumulative pressure coupled with the accuracy from McLean in the shooting circle saw WBOP surge in the dying minutes of the third stanza, closing the gap to 37-41 at the three-quarter mark.
With only four goals separating the team, Manawa capitalised on two crucial WBOP errors to push clear for the comfortable win.
Meanwhile, Mainland continued their winning start to the league with a 55-51 victory over the Northern Marvels at Mainpower Stadium on Saturday.
A strong second quarter performance set the hosts up for the narrow victory with Tactix shooter Hannah Glen landing all of her 11 attempts at goal in the spell – Mainland heading into the main break with a 27-24 advantage. Defender Lose Faingaanuku, who made her ANZ Premiership debut last week, was also a stand-out for Mainland grabbing three deflections and four intercepts.
But it was a tense second half with Marvels shooter Christie Anderson doing her best to keep her side in touch with a faultless shooting display, the visitors falling short despite a strong fourth quarter.