THE Cats had a tough day out on the courts on Saturday, South Gambier throwing up some tough challenges and the heavens opening regularly.

In the seniors though, the 17 & Under and A Res’ girls continued their winning form and will be looking to put the first dent in Millicent’s unbeaten records in their respective grades, this weekend and in the juniors, the 13s recorded wins in the A and B divisions.

From the scribes …

15 & Under B

CATS 15 & Under B played at home against South and knew they had a hard game on their hands.

So they came out firing and got two quick goals on the scoreboard.

Caitlin Gorman ran hard all game in the centre making some very smart passes and feeds to our goalies, while getting some great intercepts up and down the court to give her team more opportunities to score.

Mylie Ireland at WA had some great drives and used her positioning wisely to accurately feed the goalies, Amelia Bailey, GA, Rachel Forbes, GS, who moved beautifully together and were able to capitalise on their good positions and hard drives to get some scores on the board.

Half-time, the Cats trailing by 23.

The second half saw the long-armed duo of Nicole Cornish, GK and Ella McKinnon, GD, giving their opponents some headaches, making some timely intercepts and good rebounds to turn the ball over to give the Cats some more chances to score.

Sophia Corrigan was backing them up in WD, bringing the ball out of defence with speed and good passing and putting great pressure over the ball, also forcing South to make errors resulting in more opportunities for the young Cats.

Three-quarter time the Cats were down, six to 38.

We had a swap and young Sophie Haythorn come on at GS, creating more movement in the circle to get three more goals on the board.

The whole team played an amazing game, all chasing loose balls, had strong defensive pressure all over the court and were rewarded with getting some scores on the board.

The score line does not reflect on how amazing these young Cats played.

Final score, Cats going down to South, nine to 45.

Best players picked by South - Caitlyn Gorman, Amelia Bailey.

A Grade

SOUTH Gambier seemed to be in control for much of their round three clash with Casterton Sandford but it was a last quarter shooting clinic from teenager Gracie Dalton that ensured the Demons had a comfortable victory.

The young shooter nailed 15 from 18 in a dominant final quarter performance that saw South power to a 17-goal victory.

The margin was seven at quarter time after a late flurry from the Demons and by half time it was a 12-goal margin.

The Cats got the better of the third quarter and had it back to an eight-goal game before the last quarter effort from Dalton.

Casterton Sandford reacted to their opening quarter deficit by swinging the changes, which saw coach Dani Russell and Libby Altorfer switching roles on the wings, with Altorfer moving to the attacking end of the court, while circle defenders Caeleigh Humphries and Ebany Jarrad also swapped roles, with Humphries moving back onto Dalton after her opening quarter of nine from 12, alongside Alyssa Duncan’s perfect six from six.

Over the next two quarters, the changes seemed to have an impact but an injury to Jarrad that forced her from the court, saw the Cats line-up again forced to shuffle, with Madalene Cleary moving from the centre to goal defence and Ivy Lane, who usually plies her trade as a goaler, taking the centre bib.

In a good sign for Casterton Sandford, the shooting combination of Chloe Foster and Chelsey Galpin looked to be finding some good chemistry and they did generate more scoring opportunities than the previous two rounds.

For the Demons, Sophie Wight was outstanding through the centre, running hard and having an impact at both ends, while Ellie Bouchier was the queen of the turnover, using her height and reach to great effect in disrupting the cats forward set up.

Duncan also continues to be the on-court leader and she did a mountain of work as a key link player and out the front of Dalton to ensure South always remained ahead on the scoreboard.