Poppy Kilworth. Photo supplied.Ashburton College have come agonisingly close to recording their first win at this year’s New Zealand Secondary School Netball tournament.

In their first game of post pool play yesterday, they faced off against St Mary’s College.

Having battled against some of the biggest named schools in the country such as St Kentigern College over the first two days, AshColl started strongly against their Wellington rivals.

By half-time in the game they were leading by two goals, with the scoreboard reading 21-19.

In the third quarter St Mary’s were able to swing the advantage and led by three goals at stages, but AshColl never dropped the bit, keeping the scores close.

Eight minutes in to the fourth quarter St Mary’s were able to extend back out to a three-goal lead.

AshColl cut that lead to one at the five minute mark, and levelled the scores with four minutes and 23 seconds left on the clock.

From there the game went goal for goal, with St Mary’s holding the centre pass advantage that meant AshColl had to score every time just to keep the scores level.

Eventually that pressure told and St Mary’s were able to turn the ball over with one minute 30 to go, and were able to score quickly, extending the score to 40-36 by the final whistle.

In their first post pool play match on Wednesday afternoon AshColl faced off against a very familiar opponent in Villa Maria.

Half-time saw the game locked up at 17-all, but a drop in intensity in the third quarter by Ashburton saw them trailing by seven going into the last quarter.

A strong fight back from AshColl saw them get within three off Villa, losing 32-35.

Grace Adams was exceptionally strong on attack and was backed up by Poppy Kilworth in the mid court, who turned over ball at critical times on defence.

When the team needed the ball near the end off the game Mia Pearson came up with two crucial turnovers.

By finishing within three goals off Villa the College girls gained a critical point, something the team thoroughly deserved.

In their third game of post-pool play, AshColl faced off against a sharp Napier Girls’ High School side that was fresh of a victory against Villa Maria.

Napier started strongly, and led 15-7 at the end of the first quarter.

They kept the pace going strongly and worked to an unassailable lead of 30-13 at half-time.

From that point the AshColl girls got up to speed, but were never able to take much off of Napier’s lead, trailing 41-23 at the end of the third quarter, with final score of 48-33.

By Jaime Pitt-MacKay © The Ashburton Guardian - 10 October 2019