Poise lifts Royals Saints past Grammar

A powerful second half guided Royals Saints 1 to a come-from-behind win over Grammar 1 in their see-sawing round 3 Albany Netball Association A1 fixture on Saturday afternoon.

Grammar won their opening two games of the season and began like a team ready to seriously challenge last year’s grand finalists as they led 15-11 at quarter-time.

Scores levelled up early in the second before again Grammar were again able to skip clear through shooters Sheridan Kowald and Jade Dimer.

They led by as many as seven goals in the second period but a late goal by Royals Saints player-coach Carly Szczecinski pulled the margin back to five goals at half-time.

Kowald was hard to stop up forward, but was swung to defence in the third and it had an impact as Royals Saints, through centre Sophie Lynch and Taylah Orzel, fought hard to get their side back into the contest.

With Nardia Humphries and Szczecinski making full use of the constant circle feeds, Royals Saints produced a dominant 18-goal term to swing the momentum of the match their way.

Royals Saints went into the fourth term three goals up, but Grammar kept coming as they again levelled the scores, with Evie Dupuy working overtime in midcourt and Kowald fluent back in the goal circle.

The poise of Royals Saints under pressure shone through, however, as Nardia Humphries netted 10 final-term goals and Szczecinski went at 100 per cent with her six attempts as they led their side to a six-goal win.

That pair were able to get the better of the Grammar defence in the last half, while Lynch and Orzel were also key contributors in the 59-53 win as their side outscored Grammar 16-13 in the last quarter.

Grammar were well led by Kowald, who hit eight of her 10 attempts in the last, along with Dupuy and Casey Griffiths.

In other results, Railways suffered their first loss of the season, going down to Narrikup 1 by five goals.

Sonix recorded their first win of the season, beating Kangas 1 49-39 and Magpies 1 also got on the board after disposing of Kangas 2, 60-29.

In a rescheduled round 2 fixture played last Tuesday, Kangas 1 were 30-goal winners over Kangas 2.