THE Horsham Demons A Grade side kicked off its premiership defence in fine style by defeating the Horsham Saints on Tuesday evening.
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In the end it was time spent playing together which proved invaluable for the Demons as the side recorded a 62-45 victory.
Demons coach Pauline Butler said it was a fantastic start to the season.
“We weren’t too worried about the scoreboard, but we just wanted to get the win to start the season well,” she said.
“We tried a couple of different combinations today and had some new girls in that had not played with us before.
“It is going to take them a little while to get used to our game plan.”
Although the Demons led for much of the game the Saints never gave in.
At quarter time the score was 16 to 11 in favour of the Demons. For much of the night that margin did not move into double figures.
It was something which pleased Saints coach Jess Cannane.
“That’s the closest we have got to Horsham in three of four seasons,” she said.
“A lot of the girls that took the court had not played much A Grade netball so to get as close as we did is pretty fantastic.”
She said it game fitness that saw her side fade in the last quarter.
“That is something you can’t get that through any practice matches” she said.
“We knew Horsham were going to continue taking it to us so it was hard to sustain.”
Young Maggie Caris was important for a Saints side that had not played with a tall goal shooter for a couple of seasons.
She worked well with Meg O’Connor who Cannane said did a power of work at goal attack.
“To have that option to look down the court and have that option really helped,” she said.
“We are a short side in comparison to most.
“The way we moved the ball down the court with speed was also important.”
Butler said she will be looking for her side to be strengthening the defensive side of its game.
“I think our defensive pressure was pretty poor at times to be perfectly honest,” she said.
“There was also elements in the attacking side of things that we will work on at training.
“Everything is there but we just have to piece it together.”