The Courier |
DUNNSTOWN climbed its way into the top four of the Central Highlands Netball League ladder with a tight seven-goal win over Learmonth on Saturday.
Sitting in fifth position heading into round 10, the Towners were just behind Ballan by percentage and, with the Blues playing against second-placed Hepburn, were a realistic chance of cracking the top four.
What ensued was a measured and somewhat expected result, with Dunnstown leading all day to eventually win 48-41.
With three players missing from the senior line-up, it was up to the usual B-grade players to step up on the big stage.
Two of the three promoted to the big dance, Maddy O'Bree and Kellie Wilson, had already played in the earlier B-grade game, but were still more than competitive in the Towners' win.
Coach Leesa Battistello said she could not praise her group highly enough, especially given it was far from full strength.
Although the final result was a relatively tight seven goals, Dunnstown never looked like going down, leading throughout the match.
"They did an incredible job all day. Everyone was fantastic," she said.
With Ballan going down against Hepburn by 19 goals, Dunnstown now jumps to fourth spot, just clear of Bungaree on percentage.
"We went in knowing we could have gone to fourth, so that was a real motivation for us to come out and play well," Battistello said.
"Learmonth are a really improving team and they are always hard to play against so it was great to get the win."
In other CHNL games at the weekend, Daylesford notched up its first win of the year with a 53-43 win over Beaufort, lifting the Bulldgos off second-last position on the ladder.
Springbank continued its unbeaten season with a 38-goal victory over Clunes, Bungaree beat Rokewood-Corindhap by 10 goals and Buninyong did it easily against Illabarook.
Waubra, Carngam-Linton and and Skipton also joined the winners list.
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
