SGHS win thrilling final
NETBALL: It was a day to remember for Southland Girls’ High School netball coach Natalie Avellino on Saturday.
First the school’s Year 10 team won the third tier grade final at Invercargill Netball Centre’s finals day at ILT Stadium Southland.
The Year 10 team’s win came just a matter of weeks after they won the South Island tournament.
Then it was the school’s senior A team’s turn to step up on Saturday when they took on Collegiate in the Premier A final.
Down 6-1 in the first quarter, the school girls were struggling.
However, they remained calm and took confidence from the fact they won their semifinal against St Mary’s A after being down by 11 at one stage.
After trailing Collegiate by five in the early moments of the final they clawed their way back raced out to a seven-goal lead.
By the final quarter the scores were locked up and the two teams initially went goal for goal before a four-goal run by Southland Girls’ High School ultimately ended up setting up the 43-38 win.
It is encouraging signs for the school team to win in a senior club grade.
‘‘Looking at the trophy, which is dated back to 1928, Southland Girls’ haven’t won, so it’s the first time,’’ Avellino said.
‘‘The only other school team to win it was Verdon when they were quite a successful team.
‘‘So that’s pretty exciting for us, we’ve been there or there abouts.
‘‘We were in a final about five years ago, so we’ve always been at the semifinals stage but have been knocked out, so it was great to get that final and win it.
‘‘I’m just so proud and excited for the girls.’’
Avellino said the encouraging aspect was when they get behind the team doesn’t drop their heads.
‘‘Once the team gets a couple of goals in a row they get that belief they can do it.’’
The Southland Girls’ High School team also compete in the Thursday night Southland-wide premier league.
They currently sit third behind Ex-High and the St Mary’s men’s team.
Avellino said if they could book a finals berth it would be a great achievement.
While they are pleased to have won the Invercargill Netball Centre Premier A title they also want to perform in the Southland-wide league for Southland Girls’ in Nelson later this month.
‘‘We are aiming to get to the nationals and we have to finish in the top five in the South Island to go to nationals,’’ Avellino said..
‘‘Also it is school girl netball, we don’t get the opportunity to play that much here in Invercargill.
‘‘We’ve got some big events coming up and obviously our focus now is the South Island Secondary School Championships in Nelson.
‘‘You would always like to say you are going to win but you just don’t know until you get there and see how teams have changed over the years.’
Meanwhile, Woodlands took out the Premier B Invercargill Netball Centre final on Saturday with a win over St Mary’s Black.
In Eastern Southland Premier One games on Saturday, Ex High beat Blue Mountain A 46-15 and St Marys had a 28-16 win over Gore High A 16.
In the Premier Two competition St Peters A beat Ex High (2) 32-14 and Albion Red had a 33-22 win over Knapdale A.