University of Newcastle and Nova Thunder took important wins as Newcastle championship netball approached its midpoint on Saturday.
University recovered from a slow start to beat West Leagues Balance 51-44 and seize outright second position on 18 points while Nova similarly fought back after trailing by two goals at half-time to down BNC Whanau (7) 56-48 and improve to 16.
University of Newcastle coach Traci Baber said her side were "very sloppy and lethargic" in the opening quarter.
West shot out to a 12-8 lead at the first break but University outscored their opponents 14 goals to five in a telling second period. University were up 22-17 at half-time then led 38-27 heading into the final quarter.
"We had good second and third quarter then dropped off a little bit again in the last quarter with just a few little silly mistakes but, overall, it was a really good game," Baber said.
"In the second quarter we just basically tidied everything up and got shorter. They were being lazy and just putting long balls in and if you put anything high near [West centre] Sophie Buckley she'll eat it for breakfast, which is exactly what she was doing.
"The defence played well in the first quarter, we just weren't capitalising in the attack end."
Baber brought on four new players at half-time, including goal attack Erin Asquith and described her squad depth as a luxury.
"You look at the starting seven then the four sitting on the sideline and they'd be starting seven in anybody else's team and I can chop and change when I need to to address whatever is happening, which is good," Baber said.
Goalkeeper Veronica Smith was a stand-out in her first full game since returning from an ankle injury. She combined with goal defence Angela Williams for a strong circle defensive effort.
"My defensive circle isn't the tallest but they handled it very well," Baber said. "Vo [Smith] and Angela Williams played very well together. It was a good defensive effort and that was probably what we did better in the second and third quarters - as a team we defended a lot harder. It was a very important win."
Nova moved onto level terms with West with their win. Thunder and BNC were locked at 14-14 at quarter-time. BNC led 26-24 at the main break before Nova were up 41-36 by three-quarter time.
Thunder player-coach Katie Robinson said the win was "one we needed" ahead of a round-eight clash with unbeaten leaders Souths (20).
"It was a tough game, as it always is against them," Robinson said.
"It was just a good intense game and I think we were able to maintain it over the four quarters. We didn't really break away until after half-time and it took us a little while to work out what they were doing. Their shooting end was excellent. They were so clever and their body position and the way they swung the ball around the edge of the circle was difficult to break through.
"In the third quarter we put Brooke [Fennings] on to goal shooter and we sort of just made them pay with every turnover that we got. There weren't many turnovers but the ones we did get in that second half we made the most of. That's all it was really."
The Lions were comfortable 66-24 winners over Inner Glow (14), who were left in fifth and two points adrift of the top four while Souths maintained their two-point buffer over University.
Kotara South (10) led at every change to beat Junction Stella (8) 67-38.
Round seven of the 14-round competition was played on Saturday but all teams are still to play their opening round matches which were washed out and will now be contested on July 3.
Round 7 results:
University of Newcastle beat West Leagues Balance 51-44. Q1: West led 12-8; Q2: University led 22-17; Q3: University led 38-27.
Nova Thunder beat BNC Whanau 56-48. Q1: 14-14; Q2: BNC led 26-24; Q3: Nova led 41-36.
Souths beat Inner Glow 66-24. Q1: Souths led 22-5; Q2: Souths led 36-11; Q3: Souths led 50-16.
Kotara South beat Junction Stella 67-38. Q1: Kotara South led 18-10; Q2: Kotara South led 33-21; Q3: Kotara South led 52-30.
Points: Souths 20, University of Newcastle 18, West Leagues Balance 16, Nova Thunder 16, Inner Glow 14, Kotara South 10, Junction Stella 8, BNC Whanau 7.
