Inner Glow, Souths, Nova and University take wins in round four of Newcastle championship netball

Inner Glow recovered from a slow start to beat Kotara South 33-32 in round four. After a close first half, Souths outscored West Leagues Balance 12 goals to three in the third period then held the lead to win 37-26.

University of Newcastle beat Junction Stella 54-27 and Nova downed BNC Whanau 51-32 as they both stayed undefeated after three outings.

Inner Glow joined the Newcastle league this season and player-coach Jessika Christensen said their first win was built in the second half.

"We were down by about 10 in the first quarter and never led until the last quarter," Christensen said.

"We changed our midcourt up a bit and clawed our way back a little in the second quarter then in the second half we started to make our way back. We struggled a lot in the first quarter with our shooting end. We were getting turnovers, we just weren't capitalising on those. In the second half we were still getting the turnovers but we were finally capitalising on them, so I think that's where it came from.

"Our goal attack Brooke O'Kane did a lot of work out front for us and sunk some really nice shots and our whole defensive end worked well. We started with sisters [Tiarne Condron and Tegan Sherman] then Caitlin Davis come on for a half at goal defence and that sparked a bit of a comeback for us as well."

Souths coach Tracey van Dal credited a dominant third-quarter and full-court defensive effort for their win over three-time champions West.

"I think we were one up in the first quarter then lost the second quarter and were a few goals down at half-time," van Dal said.

"I made a positional change at goal shooter and goalkeeper and that had good impact.

"But I think what set the win up was that from the very beginning we had great full-court defence. We turned over 29 balls. The conversion rate was very low, which is something we need to work on, but the fact that we still turned over so much ball came down to our full-court defence. We slowed their play up through the middle of the court and pushed on from there."

They face University in a top-of-the-table match next round.

University set up their 27-goal victory with a strong opening quarter and coach Traci Baber welcomed the return of midcourter Kim Williams from a foot injury as well as the debut championship appearance of goal shooter Sophie Perkins.

"We had a really good first quarter - I think we won 18-6 - then we weren't as good the next three but it wasn't bad scoring in those conditions," Baber said.

"Kim Williams had her first game in over 12 months. She had an operation in the off-season and hasn't come back as quickly as what she thought. But she had half a game and played really well.

"I also had a fill-in, a rep player from Maitland come down because I had Keely Mullins away and I only had one circle defender. So Sophie Hickling, who plays in Maitland and I think she's only 16, came down after her game and played the whole game at goalkeeper with Angela Williams and was outstanding. She held her own."

BNC player-coach Victoria Aoake said the game felt closer than the scoreboard indicated and weekly improvement remained their main goal for the season.

"We had a more experienced line-up this week but it was combinations that we haven't played before, so we just had to get used to that," Aoake said. "We had a new shooting circle with two older girls but they haven't played much together at all, so it took us a bit to settle in.

"I was shocked at the score. I thought it was closer than that. There's still a bit to work on. We struggled a bit in attack. We got a bit stuck and at times were a bit stationary."

IN THE NEWS:

While you're with us, did you know the Newcastle Herald offers breaking news alerts, daily email newsletters and more? Keep up to date with all the local news - sign up here