Bring on Orange.
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That was the message from Dubbo College girls’ netball coach Rebecca May after her side impressively accounted for a dogged Bathurst High School to the tune of nine goals on day one of the Astley Cup.
Dubbo was in control of essentially the whole match at Bathurst’s Denison College, but was made to work in the third quarter when the hosts rallied from an 18-13 deficit at half-time to trial just 23-22 nearing the end of the penultimate term.
But goal-scoring duo Payton Harris and Natasha Janetzki proved a late flurry to bump their side’s advantage back out to four goals before kicking on again in the fourth term to secure a lion’s share of the Astley Cup points – 57-43, in fact.
May said her side would love to complete an Astley Cup double and knock off a Combined High Schools (CHS) powerhouse in Orange High School – the Hornets travel to Dubbo in two weeks’ time – but was realistic after her team’s nine-goal tune-up on Thursday at the Bathurst Indoor Sporting Complex.
“We’d love the double, we have beaten Orange before but that was two years ago,” May said.
“They beat us at CHS and they beat us convincingly so we have to come up with some strategies to narrow that margin in a few weeks.”
May said winning when expected to – which is the scenario Dubbo faced against an inexperienced Bathurst in the netball – was always tough.
“Because Bathurst is a good team and I don’t want the girls to get complacent,” she added.
“It was a good competition between them all, I have to credit the girls defence when we lost the ball, they worked really hard to ensure they got it back.”
Aside from Dubbo’s shooters, the likes of Ava Medley and Tori Reynolds were brilliant through the middle of the court and May said her centre court’s “feeding” to the attacking third was what set her side apart from Bathurst.
Paycee Cubby was another who was strong for the visitors in the victory, but it was a team effort with much of the side benefiting from such a strong local competition.
For the hosts, Abbey Bestwick was strong in the attacking circle while Molly Dowling epitomised her side’s never-say-die attitude during the tie.
The win was a much-needed one for Dubbo after a disappointing start to the tie.
On Thursday morning, Bathurst took out the tennis with a 10 sets to two victory over the Dubbo side, equating to a resounding 83-17 split, a big outcome on the opening day of the Cup.