Kingston Reds 44-44 Oxshott B
Saturday 4th November
On Saturday the Kingston Reds took on Oxshott at home. The lineup started with Charli Hicks (GS), Milly Marsh (GA), Tash Eeles (WA), Charlotte Stafford (C) , Jude Lewis (WD), Sim Kirkpatrick (GD), Gabs Cross (GK). Subs were Hannah Gilbert and Kate Waskett.
This was an exciting and very tense game from start to finish. The girls fough incredibly hard in the first half and defensively we applied a lot of pressure throughout the court. Through centre court, the ball was brought down well and fed accurately into the shooters. Charlotte and Tash timed their play well and their circle edge drives allowed the ball to go into the circle with ease. Charli and Milly worked well together to create space. Despite the close score, the girls should be really proud of how calm and composed they remained, throughout the first 30 minutes. Final score at the end of the first half was Reds 21 – 23 Oxshott.
Excellent position changes were made at the end of the second quarter, bringing on fresh legs and reigniting a fire to fight for the win. Jude and Hannah came on as C and WA in the second half and worked well together to bring the ball down and wait for the perfect pass into the shooters. With Kate coming on at WD, the defensive unit of Kate, Sim and Gabs came alive and they put a huge amount of pressure on the attack, forcing lots of errors. Both in the circle and on the edge of the circle, our defence forced the shooters to shoot from quite far out and minimised their opportunities to shoot. We were very effective on the edge of the circle and it was increasingly hard for their attack to play the ball in, often forcing them to take their first shot from wherever they were in the circle, which was excellent. By the end of the third quarter, the Reds had turned the game around with a score of Reds 35 – 31 Oxshott.
Moving into the final quarter, no changes to the team were made and we continued to fight. Unfortunately, Oxshott ran ahead in the final few minutes and the game ended with a draw. This was something as a team we felt disappointed with as we worked incredibly hard throughout the game to take the lead, and we knew how capable we were of walking away with a win. Final score was Reds 44- 44 Oxshott.
There was a huge amount of positives to take away from the game and some key learning points to focus on in training over the next few weeks. Overall we played really well and there were lots of nominations for the home POM, displaying the effort that was exerted from all areas of the court. Opposition’s player of the match went to Gabs and Bert was awarded home player of the match, both very well deserved.