ONCE again, the Cats’ girls put up a fair fight against the East Gambier Bulldogs, taking five wins across the board and keeping the crowd on its toes with some close finishes.

The 15 & Unders put on the greatest show for the fans, going down by just two goals in the A division and only in the dying minutes of the game, before taking out the B division by a single goal.

From the scribes …

15 & Under A

THE 15 & Under As played in a tight battle against East Gambier in a scrappy game and at the final siren, the Cats went down by just two goals.

A slow start from the girls put them down by two at the end of the quarter.

A strong game from the defensive end that included Amy Crauford, Sarah Richardson, Hanah Nash and Brydie Carlin, worked tirelessly to deny their opponents the ball, working overtime to come up with turnover ball as well as transition it into attack.

Indi Longhurst earned herself best on court and was as reliable as ever, controlling the court from the centre, providing accurate feeding into goalies Olivia Nolte and Chelsea Holm, as well as applying plenty of deflections and intercepts throughout the game.

Brydie Carlin earned herself best on for the Cats.

Nolte and Hulm had to work for every ball that was delivered to them - a very tight defensive end from the ’Dogs proved difficult to get the ball to them - but they were able to convert at goal when needed.

Changes were made at half-time and with a new-look line up came a new-found intensity.

The girls lifted in the third term but were unable to continue on in the last quarter. 

Unfortunately, a strong last quarter from the ’Dogs saw them jump ahead in the last minutes of the game and come away with the win.

Again, the girls showed plenty of promise throughout the game, but also showed areas that they will be looking to improve on in the coming weeks.

A Grade

REIGNING premiers East Gambier are nothing if not resilient, bouncing back from their round seven loss to South with a comprehensive victory over Casterton Sandford, despite having three of its starting seven sidelined.

With no Amryn Bosko and Sarah Lock, the usual A Reserve shooting combination of Renee Henke and Casey Horrigan took to the A Grade court, both having already filled in a couple of times this season, and got the job done.

Their opening quarter of 15 from 18 set the tone for the contest as they received good supply from Kate Dempsey and Emily Hunter, as the makeshift frontline still found good connection.

Captain Tarsh McCallum was the other starting seven choice on the sidelines, taking the opportunity to rest her legs ahead of a half marathon the following day.

For the Cats, a lack of supply was the issue despite the hard running of Scarlett Jarrad and by half time it was a 21-goal deficit for the home side.

Casterton Sandford injected the fresh legs of Chloe Foster for the third quarter, but it turned out to be the Bulldogs’ best, putting the result beyond doubt.

Henke and Horrigan were unstoppable, netting 20 from 22 to put the result beyond doubt.

Cats defenders, Caeleigh Humphries and Ebany Jarrad, were certainly doing their best to deny the East shooters time and space, but the issue was the ball just kept coming back and the strong driving and creative feeding of Hunter continued to find Henke and Horrigan in good shooting position.

In the end, the 40-goal margin elevated East Gambier back into the top four, but they will be hoping the second half of the season brings some continuity for the reigning premiers, who are yet to put their preferred seven out on court for any length of time in 2022.