The ACT women lost 23-9 to NSW in their first match of this year’s Australian National Handball Championships. 

The ACT women put in a spirited performance against last year’s champions, maintaining a strong defence throughout the match but found it difficult to break the physical NSW defence. 

Stephany Thuleau top scored for ACT with 3 goals and Renilde van Roost and Agnieska Bylinska scored 2 each. 

ACT comes up against South Australia in their next match later this afternoon.