Northcote Park 1 claimed their first win of the 2024 Cleaning Melbourne senior winter netball Division 11 season, defeating Kilmore 6 by 25 goals in a superb performance at RMIT University.
A 12-5 opening term set the tone for the Cougars, who outscored the Blues in each remaining quarter on their way to producing an impressive 41-16 triumph.
After being unable to prevail in their four grading matches, the Cougars put together their highest score of the season, while also conceding the least number of goals in a game so far in the winter campaign.
It was a dominant opening half from Northcote Park goal shooter Rebecca Brown that played a role in her side’s strong win on Friday night. She finished with 23 goals for the match, 15 of them coming in the first two quarters.
Ellie McMahon was impressive in her own right at goal attack and scored 18 goals, while teammates Nicole Brown and Rachel Leach had some great moments for the winning side.
Kilmore saw strong efforts from Mia Albert and Jasmine Egan in the midcourt as well as Georgia O’Dwyer in the defensive third, while Phoebe Hanna finished as the Blues’ top scorer with nine.
Northcote Park’s ability to apply great amounts of pressure to their opposition, was the catalyst in their strong start to the match.
Led by Nicole Brown and Jasmine Burgess, they didn’t allow Kilmore any easy transitions down the court, while in the attacking third, the Cougars also controlled things, with an eight-goal first term from Rebecca Brown seeing her side lead by seven at the first break.
The intensity didn’t fall away in the second term as goal defence Brydie Ellis dominated the quarter for Northcote Park. Her ability to read the balls coming into her defensive circle as well as create multiple intercepts ensured Kilmore only registered four goals for the term.
Despite trailing by 13 goals at half time, the Blues refused to put their heads down, and came into the second half full of energy.
They lifted their work rate and were starting to gain more possession as a result; however, Northcote Park would end the third term in impressive fashion to extend their advantage to 19 goals approaching the final quarter.
The Cougars made sure of the victory with another terrific term in the last, scoring eight goals to two. It capped off a brilliant four quarter performance which resulted in them winning their first match of the season.
