All-island netball queens!
Gaynstead dominate Denbigh to claim delightful double
IT WAS all Gaynstead yesterday in the finals of the ISSA All-Island Schoolgirl Netball finals at the Leila Robinson Court.
Following their double victories in the Urban competition three days earlier, Gaynstead returned to show their strength against rural queens Denbigh to capture both the junior and senior titles.
Their junior team first upstaged the defending champions 24-21 for their second All-Island title, after winning in 2016, while it was a historic moment for the senior team as they captured their first title with a commanding 35-26 win over the Denbigh seniors.
Winning coach Dalton Hinds was, as expected, elated after seeing his teams create history for a first clean sweep of both titles in the competition.
“What these victories mean for Gaynstead today (yesterday) is that we are saying to the other schools that Gaynstead is here to continue what we started 11 years ago. I thought the ladies were highly motivated after winning both urban titles and wanted to go all the way,” said Hinds, who had special words for a few of his senior players.
“When you have class players like national defender Latanya Wilson and up-and-coming player in Kelsey Jonas, they would have lifted and motivated the team, and that they did all season,” said Hinds.
Janice Walker, coach of Denbigh, believes her teams were too slow out of the blocks.
“The girls started really flat. They didn’t start as they usually do, and despite making many changes throughout the game, they just could not click. There was too many turnovers by the team, and it was just not our day today (yesterday). It was the first time a team was running them that hard, and they were not used to it, so they folded in the end. Kudos to Gaynstead. They really played well and deserved their wins on the day.”
In the senior match, Gaynstead raced into a quick 5-1 lead after three minutes inside the first quarter. Denbigh rallied well towards the end of the quarter to cut the deficit to one as Gaynstead led 8-7 after the first stanza.
For the remainder of the game, with Wilson making excellent interceptions with her team-mate Honesha Roberts at goal defence and goal shooter Britany Logan as well as goal attack Kelsey Jonas in fine form, it was all Gaynstead as they took a 18-11 lead into half-time.
Despite Denbigh trying their best to come back into the contest, Gaynstead ended the third quarter leading 27-18, before ending on a high, outscoring the rural champs 9-8 to score a resounding 36-26 win in the end.
Goal shooter Logan scored 23 from 26 attempts, while Logan assisted with 12 from 13. For Denbigh, goal shooter Daney Thomas top scored with 18 from
23.
In the junior final, Gaynstead led from start to finish. Quarterly scores were 6-5, 15-9, 18-16 and 25-21. Goal shooter Gabrielle Phillips top scored for Gaynstead with 14 goals from 21 attempts, with goal attack Dejaney McIntosh 10 from 14. For Denbigh, goal shooter Marion Smith top-scored with 13 from
19.