A DOMINANT second quarter helped rocket Mana to its first win in the new Bathurst Netball Association's A reserve 1 grade on Saturday, downing Panthers Toshacks 40-27.
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Mana led by just a goal over the young Toshacks outfit after a tight opening quarter, but in the 15 minutes that followed the black and whites took control.
After Toshacks potted the first goal of the second quarter, Mana scored eight unanswered goals. It gave them an 18-10 lead at half-time and from there they were never headed.
"Oh wow, I didn't realise that. That was a great effort," Mana's Saphai Mitai-Ngatai said.
"That's why our coach was telling us to settle down, because we were that far in front. But, yes they do keep coming at you, that's Toshacks, they just keep running."
It was Toshacks who started Saturday's match the stronger of the two sides, goal shooter Chelsea Oldham scoring twice in the first five minutes while down the other end of the court, goal keeper Sharna Kinghorne and goal defence Taylor Hobby held Mana out.
But Mana soon settled and in the ninth minute nosed ahead.
It was 10-9 at the first break, but in the second quarter momentum really swung Mana's way.
Mana centre Alarna Dawson won a number of turnovers and along with Mitai-Ngatai at wing attack, they provided good ball to their shooters.
They capitalised to pushed out to an eight-goal lead.
The third quarter was evenly matched as both sides added 11 goals to their tally, Toshacks fighting hard after falling behind 28-16 to trail 29-21 at the final change.
But Mana pulled away in the final quarter for a comfortable win.
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Mana's win came after last Saturday's games were washed-out and they suffered a narrow one-goal loss to Scots All Saints College in the first match of the newly formed A reserve 1 grade.
Mana was one of 10 teams that initially started out in A grade before the draw was split in August. The top four outfits remained in the top tier, with the others forming A reserve 1.
Mitai-Ngatai felt it was a good move from officials as it allowed younger players to test themselves and learn against more experienced rivals before finishing the season taking on outfits they are more evenly matched with.
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"It was a good challenge and we've wanted that development as well, I brought a lot of the young ones up just to give them a run in A grade," she said.
"Having played in A grade they can now switch it on - they know where the competitive grade is compared to where their more social grade is."
In Saturday's other A reserve 1 grade matches Scots All Saints College defeated CSU Hawkes 45-42 while Panthers Mustangs downed Bulldogs Hurricanes 43-25.
