Day Three of the Lower North Island Secondary School Tournament in Palmerston North has seen some exciting netball being played, with many decider games to determine quarter final spots for first thing Thursday morning.

A GRADE:

NGHS began strong this morning continuing their winning streak against Hutt Valley 39 – 30, securing their top 8 position.  Their second game of the day against last year’s champions Manukura, provided a great spectacle of netball for all, with NGHS playing their hearts out right until the end.  Unfortunately, Manukura took the win 38 – 34, this is the closest anyone has got to Manukura this week.  This leaves NGHS sitting in 2^ndposition in their pool and will play 1^stplace Sacred Heart Lower Hutt in the cross over quarter final to determine who will make top four.  If tomorrow mornings game goes NGHS way they may well meet Manukura again during finals. 

HGHS were off to a great start this morning beating Inglewood High School 34 – 28, with a must win game to go to make top 8 position. Second game today was against a very strong New Plymouth Girls High School they unfortunately lost and now will play Samuel Marsden in the cross over to hopefully make 9 – 12 semi-finals, which is a huge improvement on last years 18th position.

Taradale had a very close game with Whanganui Girls College first up this morning, going down by only 1 goal, score was 22 – 21. Their second game of the day was against Fielding where they also went down 31 - 22.  Tomorrows cross over will be crucial if they are to stay out of the bottom four, they will be playing Sacred Heart New Plymouth where the winner will qualify for the 25^th– 28^thsemi-final.

HNHS achieved their second win of their pool this morning beating Whanganui Collegiate 34 – 23, and unfortunately lost to Newlands 47 – 37, finishing 2^ndin their pool, with the cross over tomorrow morning against Lytton High School to secure their 17th – 20th semi-final.

B GRADE:

All of the B Grade teams managed to win their first games of the day today, with the exception of Iona College who played fellow Hawke’s Bay Secondary School Central Hawke’s Bay College.

Sacred Heart College with only one loss so far in the tournament had a fantastic start to the day winning their game against Nae Nae College 32 – 28, and also beating St Mathews this afternoon 42 – 32.  Added to the win yesterday means they finish first in their pool and will be playing against Woodford House in the cross over for top 4 tomorrow morning.

Woodford House began the day with a solid win over Manawatu College 40 – 18, then another win over Nga Tawa this afternoon 20 – 18.  Due to their first game loss in the pool yesterday they ended up 2^nd in their pool, hence why they play 1^stplaced Sacred Heart in their cross over in the morning.  The bonus is that at least one of these teams will make top four position.

CHBC ticked off their 5^thwin in a row this morning against Iona College beating them 37 – 20, followed by a 6^thwin against St Peters College 33 – 24, placing them 1^stin their pool, securing a top 8 position and prime position going into the cross over in the morning to go into top 4, where they will meet Wairoa College.

Wairoa College started out dominating their pool with a second game win over Otaki College this morning 31 – 26, however went down to Rua Mano in their final pool game finishing off in 2^ndplace. They meet Central Hawke’s Bay in the cross over, which again means at least one more HB team will definitely make top four.

Iona after their first loss today to Central Hawke’s Bay College 37 – 20 then had a fantastic win against Tararua 40 – 23, however due to finishing 3^rdin their pool they will now be playing for 9 – 16 position and be playing Waiopehu College to go for 9 – 12^thsemi-finals. 

Again another fantastic day of netball today in some difficult weather conditions, so well done to all the players, coaches and parental support for toughing it out, come on the bay!

Tina Arlidge

Operations Manager

Article added: Wednesday 05 September 2018