Sweet 16!

NETBALL:

HIGH-FLYING Oldham Netball Club maintained their 100-per-cent record in Premier League One with a 65-42 win in Bath.

It was an early start for leaders in their second game of the weekend, but it did not prevent them from securing a 16th success of the season.

Oldham began slowly, but battled back courtesy of an Emma Dovey interception.

Shooters Kathryn Turner and Krista Enziano were working well together, with the former feeding the ball to the latter with ease and setting up a 15-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Coach Debbie Hallas moved Georgie Webster into goal defence and brought Laura Malcolm to wing defence to try to nullify the threat from the Bath wing attack Asha Francis.

The change worked wonders with Malcolm turning the ball over for Oldham six times in the quarter and shutting down the feed into the Bath shooters. By half-time, Oldham had stretched their lead to 31-22.

The third quarter was Oldham’s best with Turner and Alice Travis sinking 21 goals between them and the defence turning the ball over for fun, giving the visitors a 52-35 advantage.

For the last quarter, Hallas brought back Enziano, giving Turner a well-earned rest and moving Travis forward for a run at goal attack.

The changes did nothing to halt Oldham’s flow and the centre court of Beth Cobden and Rachel Henry found the two shooters with ease.

A time-out gave Hallas the chance to switch things round again with the score at 65-42, bringing Kerry Almond, Georgie Webster and Maria McAndrew back on for the closing minutes of the game as Oldham

finished on top.