The first East Region game of the 2nd half of the season and Omega meet Hornets Orange in our home game. For the first time in years, Omega have a healthy squad and we welcome newcomers Sofia Aldous and Leah Badham who are joining for the second half of the season. The team are up for changing their position on the league table and are determined that 2nd half of the season will be a turnaround in their results.
A great start with everyone warming up well in preparation for game start. Omega start the game but falter in the opening minute and Hornets take the 1st 2 goals, but Omega settle and a 3-goal run helps them even the scores fairly quickly. The game is closely contested for the main part of the quarter, but several turnovers by defence players, Nicola Rantell, Sam Abbott, Steph Winfield and Hayley Kruse helped the team to take a small lead by end of the 1st quarter, coupled with some excellent play by all players on court.
A substitution for 2nd quarter sees newcomer Leah Badham take the WA position from Zoe O’Neill. We see a little more congestion in the mid court and attack play this quarter, but nevertheless, some great links and play to goal are also on display and this will only improve due to familiarity with eachother. Tight defending by Sam, Steph and Hayley in the defensive circle put pressure on the opposition with finding their shooters and again the defence win over several turnovers. However, Omega allow the opposition opportunities to stay in the game with silly mistakes and they loosing the quarter by one goal.
The team revert to as was in Q1 and return to court determined to change their loosing streak and they quickly settle back into their stride. Amazing defending by GK, Hayley results in 6 turnovers from her alone in this third quarter against a very tall and prominent GS. Although more unforced errors are evident, the ball wins by Hayley and Nicola during the quarter, contribute towards the increase in the lead once more and allows the team to play their game. Some great use of triangles in the attacking play by Lucy Andrews, Zoe O’Neill, Emma Maidment and Georgia Quinton, displaying control and slickness in feeding the shooters who have superb accuracy to reward the team play throughout the entire game.
Going into the final quarter, Omega are 7 goals ahead but they know the game is far from won at this point. Control and discipline this quarter are key and all players are fully aware of this. They continue to gel well as a team, making great decisions and displaying patience to work the ball safely to goal. Again in this quarter, the defence play is tight and the oppositions shooters are rattled. Clean and seamless attack play and accurate shooting by both Emma and Georgia pay off and the win the team came for, is in the bag!
The final score is 55-49 to Omega and a well deserved win. Player of the Match awarded by Hornets to GS, Georgia Quinton…well done Georgia.