Magpies shoot to big first win in A5 division

A terrific battle between Grammar 3 and Magpies 3 developed in the opening round of the Albany Netball Association A5 competition on Saturday afternoon.

The fixture looked an even match on paper and the first quarter didn’t disappoint.

The teams went goal-for-goal, but Grammar’s inaccuracy cost them the lead at quarter-time.

The Magpies’ shooters, although undersized, were causing Grammar’s defence all sorts of trouble and their chemistry with centre Amy Dominiak resulted in a number of easy goals.

The second quarter started out completely different, with Grammar goal attack Grace Howard proving a handful and she shot with confidence at over 70 per cent accuracy for the quarter.

However, the Magpies’ continued dominance through the centre court helped them maintain a handy four-goal half-time lead.

In the second half Magpies gained the ascendency, with Libby Miells’ extra height and confident shooting in goal attack pushing her side’s advantage to more than 10 goals by three-quarter-time.

Grammar did all they could, with Chloe Thomas and Howard continuing their strong form.

Magpies put the game away early in the last quarter, running away with a 52-38 win.

A strong, even performance across the court got Magpies the win, with some stand-out performances coming from Dominiak and Tia Campbell.

Howard showed her class over four quarters to be Grammar’s best player of the day.

In the other A5 fixtures, Bullets 4 downed Grammar 4 34-25, and Kangas 8 won a thriller against Kangas 7, 29-25.