Allied Te Rapa Premier had their second consecutive big win in Hamilton City's open grade netball competition and are set to challenge the top three teams.

First Credit Union Verdettes and University Premier have been the top two teams in the competition for years and Margaret Landon's Shoe Clinic Phoenix have joined the pair as the top sides in the competition.

But two big wins for Allied - by 35 goals last week against Morrinsville Sports and a 50-23 win over Fraser-Tech Premier on Saturday - shows Coralie Edwards' side are on track to challenge for the top spots.

Edwards said she'd hoped for a bigger win over Fraser-Tech on Saturday, but did spend some time trying new combinations in preparation for next week's "big game" against Uni.

After leading by eight at quarter time, Allied put the game beyond doubt when they won the third quarter by 12, but they did lose arguably their best player since the start of the season, Darlene Karena.

Karena plays at both ends of the court, but an injury to her right ankle means she is unlikely to play next week.

Allied are still blooding some young players, Edwards said, but do have a core of players from last season.

Their opponents next weekend, Uni, don't play their second round match until tomorrow night because they had so many players, and their coach, involved in the Waikato under-21 team who lost to the South African international side on Saturday night.

In other games, Verdettes and Phoenix are on track for the top two spots in the other pool.

Both had comfortable wins on Saturday, Verdettes 74-37 over Marist and Phoenix 55-44 over Melville.

With Allied, Uni, Phoenix and Verdettes all unbeaten, the remaining four sides will battle it out for the last two spots when the championship round starts on July 24.

MATT RICHENS 

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