Royals Saints fight off young Kangas outfit

A determined and youthful Kangas 2 put up a great first-half fight before reigning premiers Royals Saints 1 took control in the second half in their clash in round 11 of the Albany Netball Association on Saturday.

Royals Saints took a four-goal lead into quarter-time as Kangas hung on bravely.

However, dangerous shooting combination Nardia Humphries and Carly Szczecinski were on fire in the first half, scoring 27 goals out of 32 attempts to help their side lead 27-21 at half-time.

In the third stanza Royals Saints’ ball movement was clinical as they scored 16 goals to nine to open up a 13-goal advantage .

Kangas continued to fight hard but couldn’t reduce the margin in the last quarter as they went down 40-56.

Taylah Orzel set up the win through midcourt while Humphries and Szczecinski were a deadly combination in the circle, finishing with 56 goals from 70 attempts.

Humphries shot at 100 per cent in the final term on her way to 37 goals from 43 attempts while Szczecinski added 19 goals at 70 per cent.

At the other end Alyssa Ward was in fine form, finishing with 25 goals from 29 attempts, while teammates Caitlin Ward and Indianna Weeden were also solid contributors for Kangas.

A 24-goal first half from Grammar 1 helped them set up a comfortable 25-goal win over Narrikup 1 as they look to cement their place in the top four.

Grammar led in every quarter as they netted 10 first-quarter goals then added 14 more as they pushed their lead out at half-time.

From there Grammar maintained control to run out 50-25 winners.

Magpies 1 stayed in touch of top spot as they took care of Bethel 1 by 16 goals in the other fixture.

Magpies got the jump early leading by nine goals at half-time before a fightback from Bethel got them within seven at three-quarter-time.

The final term belonged to Magpies, though, as they stamped their authority on the game with a 19-goal-to-10 quarter, finishing victors 51-36.