Usually, the Honiton Netball League has a break over the half-term holidays, but, due to the bad weather that saw a full Monday of matches in October wiped out, a full schedule was played on the first day of the school break, writes Steph Upson.

The half-term break meant team selection problems for High Tide, but they still fielded a side – albeit compromising five players (two less than normal) for their meeting with Blackdown.

It is a measure of how well the five High Tide players did that the final score was not as high as it might have been, with Blackdown, who fielded a full complement of seven, ultimately wining 29-11.

Bea Bandyszewska stood out as the star player for Blackdown whilst Jasmine Wellman picked up the award for High Tide.

Hi Q got off to a sensational start led by Laura French’s skilful shooting in their meeting with HNC 3Ts, taking a 15-4 lead by the end of the first quarter. The second quarter saw the Hi Q scoring slow, thanks in the main to some sterling work from 3Ts goal defence Codie Houndsell. In the third quarter Hi Q began to score with more frequency and eventually secured a 54-11 success. The win leaves Hi Q as joint leaders with Flamingos – both teams have equal points and matching goal difference.

The next few games are going to be crucial to these two teams as they battle it out to take a clear lead at the top.

The teams sitting second and third in the Division One table - TNC Otters and HNC Hot Shots – met in what proved to be a close contest.

Otters got off to a bright start and held a comfortable lead in the first three quarters with some skilful defending from Amy Colwill as Otters’ goal defence. Meanwhile, Shannon Beverley showed her versatility and shone for Hot Shots whilst playing as both goal attack and goal defence during this nail-biting match.

Hot Shots’ resilience and strong will power showed in the final quarter when they netted 14 goals, rapidly chasing Otters and looking for a win, but it was a little too late as Otters sealed a hard-fought 37-32 success.

The final match of the night was the meeting of Panthers and Sidmouth Chicks, a contest that Chicks won 27-18. This was a close contest, certainly for the first three quarters before Chicks found a new gear in the final quarter to take the match honours.

The Panthers’ hard work in the first three quarters paid off, as they managed to score more than half of Chicks’ goals, meaning they banked a point for their efforts and that was sufficient to see them climb off the foot of the table.

Once again, Anna Benson collected the individual player honours for Panthers, this time for an excellent defensive display whilst Chicks’ young Darcy Hastie was awarded the accolade for her work as goal shooter.

Latest Division One table

P W D L F A Pts

Hi Q 3 3 0 0 122 44 9

Flamingos 3 3 0 0 122 44 9

TNC Otters 3 3 0 0 119 67 9

HNC Hot Shots 3 2 0 1 116 76 7

Sidmouth Chicks 3 2 0 1 99 68 7

Blackdown 4 2 0 2 76 95 6

Sidmouth Toucans 4 1 0 3 89 141 4

Panthers 3 0 0 3 46 117 1

HNC 3 T’s 3 0 0 3 56 132 1

High Tide 3 0 0 3 40 101 0