IN the second week of the new Winter Netball League, KW Roofing inched closer to the top of the Division Two table by securing a 43-33 victory over newly-promoted KHB Security.

From the outset both teams played confidently but it was the accurate passing and fluent movements of Cheryl Taylor, Jane Rossiter and Trudy Ritsema which put KW into an early lead.

By half-time KW had a six-goal advantage despite the efforts of KHB’s strong defensive pairing of Justine Denton and Becky Marko.

In the final 30 minutes KHB’s mid-court trio of Julie Gear, Anne Hale and Freya Ellis created plenty of opportunities for their shooters but these were not capitalised upon, partly due to the strong KW defence of Helen Kneebone and Jill Fox. At the other end of the court however, Linda Rawcliffe netted a host of clinical shots and seemed unstoppable as she dictated play in the KW attacking zone.

Meanwhile in Division Three, newly-demoted Toymaster struggled against Bitz & Pieces, losing 16-27.

Despite being a player down Toymaster started the game strongly with some excellent movement across the court by Amy Michelle at wing attack and goal attack Jenny Stone, but appeared unable to net the goals.

Bitz & Pieces’ shooters, Emma Conway-Hyde and Clare Taylor, however scored a high percentage of goals from shots taken and finished the first quarter 9-3 up.

Toymaster came back for the second quarter with renewed energy and worked tirelessly around the court.

Particular improvement was evident in their defence with Korin March and Emily Park turning over plenty of lose balls in the Bitz & Pieces’ attacking zone ending the quarter only five goals behind, 7-12.

However, with only six players Toymaster began to tire and Bitz & Pieces took full advantage of their extra player, allowing Louise Tattershall, Emily Foote and Kellie Poole to excel short sharp passes through the mid-court to their shooters.

For Bitz & Pieces this is only their second season in the league and were therefore understandably thrilled with their victory.

Also in Division Three, Piddle A beat fellow club team PJ Aiken by a resounding 43-21, despite starting the match a player down.

PJ took an early lead and capitalised upon the player deficit in the opposing team. Helen Taylor and Emma Kellaway feed strong passes into their shooters Henni Green and Lorraine Kellaway, who shot their team to an 11-5 lead at quarter time.

However, in the second quarter, Piddle’s seventh player took to the court which resulted in their attacking unit of Wendy Carmichael, Vicky Sharpe and Stacey Edwards being able to play deeper in their attacking zone presenting shooters Lou Thompson and Stacey Edwards with plenty of opportunities.

Chantelle Lewis and Elaine Gould worked hard to close down PJ’s attacking flow with great effect, as was evident by the final score.