Isle of Man Netball results and reports from Santander International Senior League games played on Sunday, January 29:

Premiership

Suntera Global

Ballasalla Blizzards 20,

Simcocks Red Eagles 49

Games between Simcocks and Ballasalla are always well contested and this match was no different.

The game started goal for goal thanks to some stellar shooting from Chloe Swales (Simcocks GA) and Gemma Kirkham (Balla GS), but after a few defensive turnovers by Simcocks the first quarter finished 16-5 to them.

Looking to build on their lead, Eagles started the second period strongly and some nice play between Claire Mason (WA) and Rachel Johnstone (C) helped to bring the ball down the Simcocks shooting end, allowing them to build on their lead.

Strong defence by Eagles’ Kenzie Pizzey (GD) and Natalie Swales (GK) continued to put pressure on Balla’s attacking end.

The third quarter saw some changes for Blizzards, with Mairi Harrison moving to GD and Becky Dunne to WD who teamed up to reduce shooting options for their opponents and try to block Aalish Harris out of the circle.

This forced Eagles to play more balls out of the circle and saw Ashley Hall (Balla C) take some good interceptions to turn the ball over for Balla, but with sharp shooting for Eagles they ensured they continued to convert ball to goal and the third period finished 37-16.

During the fourth quarter, Eagles’ Hannah Leece (WD) helped to provide a number of turnover opportunities which helped her side build on their lead, with the game finishing 49-20 and player of the match going to Eagles’ Kenzie Pizzey (GD).

Championship

Young Farmers 23,

Thompson 2 - 29

It was always going to be a close game between the experienced Thompson 2 team and the Young Farmers, with the latter missing a number of key players including in-form GA Nicci Cain.

But the match also saw the welcome return of Alison King to the Farmers, dusting off her dress after a two-year break from the netball court.

Thompson looked strong from the start with some excellent play in the shooting circle. Unfortunately, their centre Karen Duncan hurt her back in the first quarter, although she persevered and managed to continue to play, carefully, to the end of the match.

Thompson continued to extend their lead in the second and third quarters, with Chloe Schofield and Emily Gaylor very accurate with their shooting.

Young Farmers centre Rachel Osborne made life tricky for their opponents with some great interceptions. She also linked up well with Emma Jones in attack, managing to get balls into Alison King and Dani Kelly past Thompson’s strong defence.

Young Farmers made a change to their line-up in the final quarter and the combination of Hannah Moore and Alice Forster in the defence circle made life harder for Thompson. Farmers scored 10 goals, but Thompson stayed strong and held onto a six-goal advantage to take the win, with player of the match going to Chloe Schofield of the victors.

Division One

Manx Gems Emeralds 55,

Suntera Global Ballasalla Earthquakes 12

Emeralds dominated this game from the off.

With some good set-plays down the court, they were able to find Jill Festorazzi (GS) and Di Cregeen (GA) who were consistent with winning rebounds and deceiving the defensive skills of Ballasalla’s Gemma White (GK) and Alicia Kewley (GD).

As such, the score at the end of the first quarter stood at 11-3 in Emeralds’ favour.

With no positional changes by either side going into the second period, Ballasalla found themselves, on occasion, breaking the line before the start of play.

Emeralds were able to convert these opportunities, with mid-court players Alex Wilson-Spratt (WD), Sarah Curphey (WA) and Dawn Quinn (C) bringing the ball through to the attacking circle.

Ballasalla did claw back three goals before half-time, with Rebecca Hands (GA) and Megan Steward (GS) working hard to get past some strong defending by Emeralds’ Sabrina Crowe (GK) and Jess Hawkins (GD). At half-time the score was 20-6.

Going into the third quarter, Curphey and Quinn swapped to C and WA respectively, while the Ballasalla shooting duo also switched around.

Unfortunately, these changes didn’t bring around a change in fortune for Ballasalla despite some great perseverance by centre Janet Lawrinson and junior player Eve Hall. With experience on their side, Emeralds continued to dominate and led 35-8 at the end of the third period.

Going into the final quarter Ballasalla made a change to their defence, with Kewley swapping to WD and Charlotte Brooks into GD. These changes weren’t enough to stop the flowing play of Emeralds who were patient feeding into their attacking circle and scoring 20 goals in the final quarter to Ballasalla’s four.

Player of the match was awarded to Di Cregeen for her impressive shooting and the final score was 55-12.

Division Two

Manx Gems Corals 20,

Atla Group Panthers 26

With only goal difference separating these two teams, both Atla Group Panthers and Manx Gems Corals had their game faces on for what was set to be a great contest.

The first quarter lived up to expectations, both teams starting strong with consistent shooting and little turnovers. The first period finished 5-4 to Panthers.

There were no changes for either team going into the second period as Panthers opened the scoring, setting the tone for the rest of the quarter.

Panthers’ defence were on top form, Jess Edmonds (GD) and Saffy Cregeen (GK) both getting some great interceptions and capitalising on Gems’ mistakes.

Their mid-court players were too quick for Gems as Rachael Webb (WD), Sarah Vorster (C) and Rachel Edwards (WA) were quick paced, found plenty of space and accurately fed sharp shooters Kirsten McIntosh (GA) and Mandy Hunter (GS).

After a few turnovers, Panthers gained some strong momentum and came out on top, leading 14-7 at half-time.

Gems made some changes going into the second half, determined to get some goals back and that’s exactly what they did.

Ellie Treanor (C) and Poppy Brown (WA) worked tirelessly in Gems’ attacking third to feed their shooters Emily Brown (GS) and Lucy Brown (GA) who both rarely missed from some incredible distances.

A change in Gems’ defence saw Tracey Gelling move to GD and Kirree Corkish in GK. This duo worked hard to get some turnovers to close the gap slightly and the third period finished 20-16 to Panthers.

It was still all to play for in the final quarter with no real idea of which team was going to come out on top. Gems made a couple of changes, bringing on Abi Campbell in WD and swapping their GS/GA.

The quarter started goal-for-goal and Gems quickly realised they needed to work harder to close that four-goal gap.

They used all of their efforts to drive the ball up the court which, unfortunately, saw various errors that their opponents used to their advantage.

The game finished 26-20 to Panthers and player of the match was awarded to Gems’ Ellie Treanor (C).