Captain Liz Kerr looks for a way past a Gibraltar defender during her team’s win yesterday. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 0797292)
Guernsey 72, Gibraltar 50
FOR a first competitive match in more than three months, Guernsey women impressed in their convincing win over Gibraltar at the Eckerohallen yesterday.
Pat Ogier’s side showed great strength in their performance, pulling away from their tiring opponents during the second half and giving their sizeable support plenty to cheer about.
‘We were a bit rusty. The last competitive match we had was on 7 March, so for a first match back I am pleased with the performance. Gibraltar are a pretty similar standard to us when it comes to the teams in this competition,’ said coach Ogier.
Aside from the first couple of minutes, Guernsey did not trail, although signs of the rustiness showed in the first half when decent leads kept shrinking as shots failed to drop.
The conclusion to the first quarter was an excellent example of that as Guernsey had a 19-16 advantage at the buzzer, having been 11 points ahead just 80 seconds earlier.
The sides were level again briefly midway through the second quarter until a three-pointer from Emma Hicks shocked Guernsey into life again, with Amy Wright following it up with a neatly taken two within just a few seconds.
That five-point lead was maintained until half-time before Guernsey really came out firing for the second half.
Ogier decided to give arguably his best five a run of more than eight minutes unchanged at the start of the third quarter and the move paid handsome dividends.
The Sarnians were not relying on star player Liz Kerr for their impetus with Hicks, Lenka Mascherucci, Amy Wright and Kerri Brown all taking responsibility to build a substantial lead. The latter two, in particular, were coming up with crucial points.
It was only the three-pointers coming from Goncalves that were giving Gibraltar hope at this stage, but, as she usually does, Kerr came to the fore and started responding in kind.
Going into the final quarter43-56 down, Gibraltar were a spent force whereas Guernsey still looked full of running.
Their dominance was such that Ogier could afford to rest captain Kerr for three-and-a-half minutes with the lead at 21 points.
She returned for the final three to add the icing to the cake with two three-point plays within the last minute and Guernsey could celebrate an opening success.
‘The first half was a bit rusty, but by the start of the fourth quarter we were really turning it on,’ Ogier said.
‘Collectively, the defence in the second half was amazing.
‘Offensively, things go through Liz as most teams have a focal point, but there were so many contributions throughout the team that it was a really good way to start.
‘Menorca tomorrow is going to be tough, but we will go in with confidence from this game while they have just handed out a pasting to the Isle of Man [111-19] and they wouldn’t have gained much from that contest.’
Article posted on 29th June, 2009 - 2.29pm
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