Round 10 of the 2018 Korfball South Australia State League competition is all over, and with that, we are officially two thirds of the way through the regular season. As there will only be five weeks of the regular season competition left after this one, individual scoring charts will be embargoed before next round, in order to keep the results hidden until the Korfball South Australia Awards Night. Until then, all the scores, schedules, ladders and goal scorers from all the games played so far can still be found on the State League page.

A Grade

This round saw the A Grade competition rejoin State League, following the conclusion of the Challenge Cup. Boomers and Glenelg kicked things off this round, and it was Glenelg who took the ascendancy early, albeit slightly. As the match progressed, Boomers struggled to score, despite working hard to earn good shots. Glenelg, in the meantime, continued to attack through their girls, who ended up doing the bulk of the scoring. Ultimately, Boomers’ struggles to score, combined with the Glenelg girls scoring strongly ended up being the tale of the match, with Glenelg running out 17-11 victors. Emily Hutchesson top scored for Glenelg and the match, with 7, while Jamie Gartner topped the Boomers tallies, with 3.

 

North and Arista matched up in the late game, in a top-of-the-table clash. North’s fabled long-shooting, which seemed to go missing at times during the Challenge Cup, reared it’s head again, causing issues for Arista. As is often the case, success with the outside game opens up the inside game, and this match was no exception. North opened up an early lead, and by the time Arista had stabilised after the early onslaught, North had a healthy advantage. Before too long, the margin had increased to 9 goals, and while Arista was able to stay competitive, and even gain momentum at times, the closest the margin got again was 4 goals, before North scored a flurry of late goals to bring the final score to 29-19. Daniel Papalia was the top scorer for North, and the match, with 6 goals, while Nik Bungey did the damage for Arista, with 5 of his own.

 

This sees North remain undefeated, and on top of the table with the maximum 21 points. Arista remain in second spot, on 14 points. Thanks to their win, Glenelg leapfrog Boomers into third, although Boomers are just a single point behind. Onto the scoring tables, Megan Milde remains on top, with teammate Daniel Papalia just a single goal behind. This is the last week we’ll know the running totals, and we’ll have to wait until the Korfball South Australia Awards Night to see who takes out the top gong.

B Grade

B Grade began with the clash between North and Glenelg. North, much like their A Grade side, started the game shooting well, and were able to ride that momentum throughout the match. An overall advantage in the rebound for North (with one notable exception, thanks to the presence of Harry Hamilton) also helped, as they were able to deny Glenelg second chance opportunities for most of the match. Ultimately, these factors combined to result in a North win, 20-10. Jayden Huddleston was the dominant scorer for North and the match, with 7 goals. Glenelg, on the other hand, shared the spoils, with Mel Fuller, Toni Bell and Mitch Othen all potting 2 goals apiece.

 

The other match of the round saw Flinders taking on Arista. Flinders started strongly, and quickly built up a 4 goal lead, and looked set to build on this lead. However, an early injury to Jess Coles, and the lack of substitutions, led to Flinders continuing a player down, threatening to derail their push. Arista appeared to take advantage of this imbalance at first, closing the gap back to 2 goals. As often happens, despite all logic pointing to the contrary, the 3 v 4 player matchup at times favoured the 3 players, on both sides of the court. This allowed Flinders to stabilise the match, and from mid-way through the first half to the end of the match, neither team was able to gain any significant momentum. Flinders finished with a couple of late goals to push the final margin out to 3 goals, 17-14. Jaz Zulfic top scored for Flinders, with 7 goals, while Kerrie-Ann Moon was the leading scorer for Arista, with 4.

 

Boomers remain on top of the table, despite having the bye this round. The next three positions are all tied on 16 points, with Flinders moving up into second spot thanks to their healthy goal difference. Arista and North are also locked on 16 points, but are also equal on goal difference. Further complicating the picture is the fact they’ve split the two games they’ve played this year, taking one each in the head to head results. These teams play each other next week in a match which could have massive finals implications. Glenelg remain in fifth, still in with a sniff of postseason action, but will need results to go their way. Over to the scoring charts, and thanks to the bye preventing Jack Curran and Mark Hamilton adding to their tallies, Jaz Zulfic now slots into second spot, just a single goal behind Jack. These tables will be embargoed prior to next round’s results being entered, so the winner of this nail biting race will not be revealed until the Korfball South Australia Awards Night.

C Grade

Glenelg Tigers took on Arista in the early C Grade match this round. As was the case in their previous match, Arista started strongly, and were able to ride that momentum throughout the rest of the match. Arista were also able to lean on their more experienced players, providing a matchup headache for the Tigers. This proved the undoing of the Tigers, with Arista running out 14-7 winners. Vanessa Rosie was the top scorer for Arista and the match, with 5 goals, while John Booth flew the flag for the Tigers, with 3 goals.

 

The late match saw Glenelg Cubs taking on Boomers. Any leeway teams may have been giving Cubs in the early part of the season has disappeared, as a few strong performances recently have shown that the Cubs cannot be taken lightly. Boomers showed this by unleashing some volume scoring, with 5 of their players scoring 4 or more goals. This is one of the best shooting performances seen in the C Grade this year, and was always going to prove hard to counter. The final score sees Boomers run out 27-7 winners. Breanna Smith top scored with 6 goals for Boomers, while Thomas Brown led the way for the Cubs, with 3.

 

Flinders remain on top despite the bye, thanks to having not yet dropped a match. Boomers sit in second, only goal difference ahead of Arista in third. Glenelg Tigers are only 3 points further back in forth, while Glenelg Cubs sit in fifth. The scoring leaders remain unchanged, with Stefan Scragg leading from James Holland and Joanna Lloyd, but not by a huge margin.

 

Next week we return to Titanium Security Arena, where we will remain for the rest of the season. We look forward to seeing you there on July 15 as we kick off Round 11 of the Korfball South Australia State League. In the meantime, all the details can be found on the State League page, for the rest of this week at least, until the scoring charts are placed under an embargo.