Sports in brief

Two out of three ain't bad

QUEENSLAND Fusion were aiming for a clean sweep of all their round five Australian Netball League matches.

And while they were denied in their first clash, the Fusion proved their dominance for their remaining games, coming away from a weekend of competition with two wins from three.

Playing in front of a home crowd at the Logan Metro Indoor Sports Centre, the Fusion's first game went down to the wire with a loss to New South Wales Waratahs on Friday night.

On Saturday night the Fusion took to the court again and were ready to make amends for their loss the previous evening.

It was a different team that annihilated the Canberra Darters 64-28, with Queensland Firebird and Daisy Hill resident, Laura Scherian starring in front of her friends and family.

Sunday's match up against the New South Wales Blues was tight with both teams going virtually goal for goal throughout much of the game.

It all came down to the last quarter where the Fusion's experience on court gave them a thrilling 48-47 win.

Fusion coach, Paula Stuart, complimented Scherian's delivery up the court and leadership, labelling the Fusion vice-captain as the difference in the end.

“She (Scherian) is playing unreal at the moment, she takes control and settles everyone down,” she said.

Heading into the final round of the New Idea Australian Netball League, Queensland Fusion has two games left.

They will play Western Australia and Singapore in Melbourne this weekend.

 

Donnelly claims Youth Olympics silver medal

DAISY Hill's Mikhaela Donnelly has had to settle with silver at the World Youth Games after the Australian Women's Youth three-on-three basketball team succumbed to a strong China outfit 33-29 in the gold medal game last week.

Despite a big second quarter fight back, the Chinese team would not lie down, finishing what was a superb tournament with the gold medal.

It was Australia's shooting that hurt them most. The girls shot 21 per cent from the three and 35 per cent from the field, whereas the Chinese team were far more deadly.

They converted on 50 per cent of their three-point attempts, and shot 45 per cent from the field.

Despite this, the fighting spirit of the Aussie girls kept them in the contest, something that Donnelly was proud of, along with the rest of the group.

“I can't even explain it,” the John Paul College student said.

“Just getting a medal at all and finishing this high in the competition is just such a privilege and I'm so proud of every single one of our girls. We gave it all we had and I think we deserve it.”

 

Wildcats claw to victory

THE Wildcats unleashed four new imports for their opening clash of the 2010 Gridiron Queensland season on Saturday.

But it was a rookie who overshadowed the lot of them as the Daisy Hill-based Wildcats held on to score a thrilling 21-18 victory over local rivals Browns Plains Bruins in Kenmore.

Wildcats coach, Adam Campbell (coaching against his former club) sang the praises of young defensive lineman, Sam Leota, who was named man-of-the-match.

During the third quarter, Leota stripped the ball from the Bruins running back and sprinted 30 yards into the end zone to score a touchdown.

“He was outstanding, had an absolute blinder,” Campbell said.

“He didn't play like a rookie, he looked more like a third year veteran player the way he went.

“According to his partner, he was in his backyard all morning before the game working through his moves.

“He was so nervous he didn't want to screw up, but he made a lot of tackles and constantly got into the Bruins back field.”

The Wildcats held a 7-0 lead at the main break and when exciting running back, Kieren Tumata ran in for his second touchdown during the third quarter, the Wildcats were ahead 21-12.

But the Bruins refused to lie down scoring early in the fourth quarter and repelling two promising Wildcats drives into the red zone.

The Bruins had one last chance to clinch victory with 15 seconds remaining and on the 11-yard line, but the quarterback dropped the snap and the ball was recovered by the Wildcats to seal a tense three-point victory.

“I'm pretty happy, our defence was excellent and exceeded my expectations,” Campbell said.

The Wildcats play their first home game this Saturday against reigning Sunbowl champions Gold Coast at Usher Park beginning at 4pm.