The Eastern Cape teams continued their unpredictable campaign in the Telkom Netball League after the Comets suffered a 59-36 defeat at the hands of the Northern Cape Diamonds.
This was the Comets’ third defeat in Division Two, and the slow start has backtracked their promotion chances despite the leg at the Durban University of Technology Steve Biko Campus being power week one out of three.
They have two points on the log from the four matches they have played.
The first quarter against the Diamonds on Tuesday got the hopes up that the Comets could perhaps earn a second win of the season.
The Eastern Cape side led 12-9.
That would be the last time the Comets had an edge on the scoreboard.
The Diamonds found their rhythm and made sure they opened a gap in the second quarter.
The teams went to the halftime break with the women from the Northern Cape leading 27-17.
Diamonds continued where they left off before the interval, and to make things worse for the Eastern Cape side, their opponents shifted up a gear.
By the end of the third quarter, the Diamonds had their biggest lead of the morning, 41-25.
In the last quarter the Comets tried to spark a comeback, but the Diamonds added to their advantage whenever the Eastern Cape team were in close range and eventually walked out with a 23-point win.
The Comets will have a chance at redemption on Wednesday morning (7am) in the same venue against the Limpopo Lilies.
The Lilies are rooted at the bottom of the tier-two competition standings and are yet to taste a victory.
They played to a 46-46 draw against their Limpopo rivals Baobabs on Tuesday.
Comets will be hoping for a double over Limpopo sides in the competition.
Much attention will be on the Eastern Cape Aloes, who will look to finally win a match in their Division One season.
The Aloes will play against the Gauteng Jaguars (3pm) on Wednesday afternoon.
The Aloes lost all their three matches over the weekend.
The Jaguars have been blowing hot and cold so far. The Gauteng outfit had a 50 per cent win ratio over the weekend.
Aloes who didn’t play on Tuesday will hope the break would have been enough to rectify their problems.
Those include game management. Despite leading on some occasions and sometimes keeping their opponents’ scores within range, the Aloes somewhat gave the games away.
A good example was against the Golden Fireballs, where they led in the first quarter and trailed by less than three points in the second and third quarters.
But failure to close out the game saw them lose 60-49.