A Grade Basketball Games Reviewed

Chronicle (Levin), 22 July 1948, Page 7

A Grade Basketball Games Reviewed

The first round of the Horownenua Basketball ' Association'scompetition' was finalised on Saturda y. A great deai of interest was shov. n in the match between Wandere.s, unbeaten to date, and COxlege A, who had won six games and drawn one. Fo: the first few minutes, College had much of the play an'd open^a the scoring with a good shot by J. McCmne. Wanderers then speedea up their game and scored rapidly. The splen'did fieldmg of J.) Winiata in the Wanderers forwards opened the way time and again »for M. Nicholson to score. Of the forwards, J. Winiata plays the best game in the Horowhenua distnct. Her splendid footwork, rapi'd dodg '.ng and - clever manoeuvres make it aimost impossible for the defe ice to foliow her. in the centres, J. Selby (Wanderers) played the most intelligent game, working her supporters into good positions to out manoeuvre the Conege centres, who, however, kept up the attaek steadily. N. Staples (College) played an outstanding game. The half-time score was 11 — 3 in Wan lerers' favour and the final scon 26 — 6. Th 3 College team perhaps lacked the i xperience of older players and seemed to be suffering from an attack of nerves, which cost them many a goal when the forwards misjudged in their shooting. Like many young players, they failedto realise the necessity for constant attack. This does not mean that they gave up trying. On the contrary they kept the opposing team on their toes. In the other A grade games, College Old Girls A beat Tui A 12 — 4. Tuis played a good open game, but Old Girls had the extra speed. H. McDonnell played well for Tuis and D. Rowe netted some fhie goals ior Old Girls. St. Joseph's beat Shannon A by 25—5 and Aces A beat College B 22 • — 12. Both these were big scores and well earned, but St. Joseph's and, to a lesser degree, Aces, must learn to eliminate guarding from their games. It is an offence which should be heavily penalised. Not only does it slow up the game, bur, it is a very poor substitute for good interception of the ball. First Rep. FixtureOn Saturday the Horowhenua Representative A, B and C teams will play "their first representative fixtures of the season. The A t6am will meat Hutt Valley A for the Paynton Cup at 1.45 p.m. on the College Courts. This will be followed at 2.45 p.m. by a match between at 2.45 p.m. by. a match between Horowhenua A and Te Kawau m The Paynton Cup, presented in 1946 for competition between Hutt Valley and Horowhenua A teams, was won that year by Horowhenua. In 1947 it was won by Hutt Valley. The B and ,C Horowhenua teams will play Hutt Valley B and C teams at 11 a.m. on the College Courts and at 1 p.m. The Horowhenua B team will play Te Kawau B team. The teams will be published tomorrow.

ten players for the major portion of the first speil. M. Bevan and R. Piper made several attempts to :core in the first spell and they had the Raukawa full-backs busy time > and ag'ain. One very determined effort to shoot by Miss Piper saw the Raukawa gcaT:e, Miss A. Roiri, stop a beauty. On another occasion Miss Piper found the net, but she had shot from outside the circle. Rahui were piaying with much better combination than Raukawa, but missed numerous opportunities through not stopping the ball following penalty corner hits. The spell ended with no score. The second spell saw Miss P. Clifton shoot a goal immediately play resumed. The Raukawa team were stirred by this reverse and a good deal of the remaining time saw them attacking. Solo efforts by Miss Kingi, Miss R. Hakaraia and Miss B. Hakaraia, narrowly missed finding the net. Following a free hit, Miss Rose Hakaraia evened the scores. Rahui's combination did not appear to be as good as in the first half, although good solo effart's came from Misses Bevan. Clifton Meta and Piper. Raukawa defence successfully warded off the danger, however, and towards the close of the game Miss N. Rciri appeared to net another for Raukawa, but the referee ruled otherwise. The game ended: Rahui 1, Raukawa 1. The Rahui men's team, who had made quite a satisfactory showing against Te Horo the former week, proved too good for the' Levin men's team-, winning by three goals to one. For Levin, K. Morgan netted. while scorers for Rahui were R. Windley, F. Thorpe and M. Jones.