Seven Towers end season on winning note

The Ballymena ladies began their season as they meant to go on, winning their section at the Opening Rally.

Towers Firsts finished their league campaign as runners up to claim promotion for the second year in a row, while the Seconds finished in a respectable mid-table position.

The final piece of success came for the Ladies last week at Lisburn Racquets Club, when they beat a competitive Holywood side to winning the Mona Baird Shield, Ulster Competition.

The game got of to a fiercely competitive start with both teams matching each other goal for goal in an opening quarter which ended 6-6.

Coach Alex Scullion orchestrated a move seeing Michelle Scott move from Goal Defence to Goal Keeper and Denise Reynolds move into Goal Defence.

This also allowed Michelle to use her athletic intercepting ability and cut out a lot of the ball going into the circle enabling her now to hold the Towers record for highest number of interceptions per game this season.

Denise Reynolds at Goal Defence read the game well, worked hard and provided good linkage with Ashley Evans at Wing Defence in moving the ball quickly out of defence. Ashley made great use of her fast pace and tight marking ability enabling her to mark her player closely and make a high number of interceptions, seeing her have her own personal highest number of interceptions all season.

With Towers three ahead, the second half commenced with Jill Overend at Centre, where she played with great awareness for other players, provided accurate passing and feds into the attacking circle.

Wing Attack Amy Scullion sustained high work rate throughout all four quarters, linking well with Jill using her pace to get free for centre passes, and provided a good supply of the ball often into the Goal Attack and Goal Shoot.

Ursula Mc Elroy at Goal Attack combined well with Samantha Leetch at Goal Shoot in the circle, making great use of Jill and Amy’s feds into the circle with Ursula’s long range effective shooting ensured a high scoring percentage for the team. Samantha Leetch held her space well, provided extra height and her strong rebounding ability saw Towers pull away to a seven goal difference going into the final quarter.

The extra motivation the Towers needed was provided by Captain Patricia coming on as Goal Defence in the final quarter added leadership and drive and helping the team hold out for a 31-25 win.

The success of the Seven Towers Netball Club has come from players’ commitment, hard work and discipline from all the club members this season. Special thanks go to Coach Alex Scullion for his hard work and constant support throughout the whole season.