Macedon 74 DEF Rams 49
What a difference having all 10 available A graders players can make. Janelle and Hetty were ready
to make their return to the court and after a solid training session this week, were rewarded with a
starting 7 position. Macedon had the luxury of being able to have 3 players on the bench and
starting with a line up, they are yet to play with on a Saturday.
It was a very slow start for Macedon, with Rams putting the first 4 goals on the board. Macedon
started sluggish and needed a couple of extra minutes to get themselves going. Rams were playing a
zone defence and the attacking end just weren’t releasing the ball to the short option. After quite a
few errors, Macedon pulled themselves out of the slow start and moved the ball cleanly and found
Hetty standing tall in the goal ring. Hetty shot with confidence converting 14 of the 15 attempts
while Chloe sat out front, helping with the feeds into goals.
Rams very strong GS was finding space reasonably easy at the start of the quarter but when
Macedon’s GK started moving her feet and confusing the space, a few fumbles and forced errors
came Macedon’s way and this is how Macedon started to peg the score line back. 17 -18 Rams way.
Although there was a resurgence by Macedon towards the end of the first quarter, Macedon still
made 2 changes. Ciara came on into WA which moved Chelsea into C and Alex came on into GK,
hoping that her elevation and aerial work for rebounds was going to be the difference. These
changes took a little while to adjust too, especially with transitioning the ball through the mid court
but again when Macedon released to the first option, Rams struggled to keep up with the movement of the ball. Both teams had a tall, dominate GS but it was the mis match in Macedon’s goal ring that started to be the difference. Ciara dominated with the feeds and Chloe backed up with the assists.
While Macedon shot the same amount as the first quarter (17), it was Alex that pulled apart the
Rams GS and won 6 rebounds back for Macedon. Janelle up front in GD, started to find a rhyme and
intercepted 2 passes and rebounded 1 missed shot. The mid courters also deserve a mention
because it was their work up front with hands over the feeder that also caused the urgent passes to
be forced into the Rams goal circle. Half time score 34 – 27 Macedon’s way.
The 7 players on court at half time kept their position for the 3 rd quarter. Macedon cleaned up their attacking and did the basics right. Bad passes were reduced to just the 4 and they all came from inside the goal circle. Centre passes were shared by all 4 players and set plays began to take place.
There was a shift to the goal third, with Ciara becoming an assister and Chelsea and Chloe joining in with the feeds and this made Macedon a little less predictable. Hetty put up all but one goal,
rebounding her own 3 missed goals. Another 17 goals for Macedon in 15 minutes.
Defensive pressure stayed up front with man-on-man defence. No one was to leave a Rams player
without a defender. 4 team intercepts, 3 from Alex in GK and 2 strong rebounds, from the only 2
missed shots for the quarter and Macedon held a comfortable 9 goal lead. 49 -40.
The last quarter went much better than expected. Janelle came off, Katie came on into GD, Chelsea
took a rest and Karlee came back on into C. Macedon started a little slow, trying to find the right
height for a feed into Hetty but once that was fixed, Macedon shot 7 in a row before Bronte
switched out for Hayley in WD. Only 2 bad passes for the quarter, a strong attacking finish by the
team, something we were yet to see this season. Macedon moved the ball into the ring in just 3
passes, utilising the time as efficient as possible. Some very quick centre passes and a tiring Hetty
put up an outstanding 22 shots. Chloe was a great decoy out front and came out for an equal
amount of centre passes. The front cut into the ring drew a player or a mis match and the shots just
kept on coming.
The defensive team pressure kept building and everyone was doing what they had force the Rams
feeds to throw the ball from off circle edge. There was only one player outside Alex that had 1 clean
recovery for Macedon. Alex was incredible in the last quarter with 4 intercepts, 5 gains and a tip. The GS just couldn’t find any space in the air or on the ground and Alex’s performance was instrumental in the 74 – 49 goal win.
Votes: Alex August-Lefiti
3 tip 6 gains 9 intercepts 7 rebound
