A mid-match injury helps Wits RHI bag win over the Wits Sports netball team.
The Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (RHI) has beaten the Wits Sports netball team by 20 points — in a heated 40-minute match — at the Digs Fields court on Wits University’s West Campus, earlier this week.
The teams were playing in the annual Internal Netball League (WINL) — which is in its second month running. This victory saw the RHI crawl from eighth on the log to fifth.
Both teams are in Pool A, which consists of the league’s 12 strongest teams, which means from the first whistle it was a tight match.
However, the loss of Wits Sports’ centre player, Tsholofelo Ngoasheng (28) due to an ankle injury caused by a contact error — saw the team trailing 11-17 at the end of the second quarter.
The injury saw the leaders quickly lose their six-point advantage; RHI capitalised on their lost momentum and managed to create a 20-point lead by the end of the match.
RHI used an aggressive attack strategy, with their captain, Zandile Thabethe audibly shouting, “high pass” and “strong pass” throughout the game. This along with their solid defence and unrelenting spirit granted them the 37 –17 victory.
Ngoasheng, said that although she enjoyed the game, her injury “put a huge dent” in her team’s gameplan and left them one player short for half of the match.
She added that her team could have overcome the hurdle by helping and supporting each other rather than losing motivation.
Player of the match, Sabelo Sibuyi (18) from RHI, who also plays for the national South African netball team, the Spar Proteas, said that she was happy with the outcome and enjoyed the game.
Thabethe said that they played a great game, but more effort could have been put into defense and utilizing their center passes.
The league, which aims to promote netball at the university, consists of Witisies and non-Witsies of any gender from around Johannesburg, who make up a total of 25 teams that are divided into two pools: A and B.
The games which began on May 3, 2022, will resume after the exam period and winter break on September 1, 2022.
FEATURED IMAGE: RHI and Wits Sports going head on at the WINL. Photo: Keamogetswe Matlala
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