Magpies, College A in decider
NETBALL
COLLEGE A will face the Southern Magpies in next week’s Premier A netball final.
In semifinals at the Edgar Centre on Saturday, College A prevailed over a nuggety St Hilda’s 4841 and Southern downed Phys Ed A 4334.
In the first game, an error from the College attack end gave St Hilda’s the chance to break and it scored to take an early lead.
Some uncharacteristic misses from the College shooters, Pelasio sisters Kiana and Talei, allowed St Hilda’s to extend its lead in the first quarter, going into the break up 107.
St Hilda’s came out strong with another break to take it to a sixgoal lead.
A rebound from College swung the momentum, scoring three times in 40 seconds.
Grace Namana’s introduction settled the College attack and five minutes into the second quarter College took the lead.
It showed speed on attack and was able to score quickly.
St Hilda’s also showed its quicker side at times, with Grace Southby creating space for herself oneonone in the circle for her feeders to feed from the centre third.
College went into halftime up 2421.
Both goal keeps made things hard for the shooters.
But Julia Law grabbed an intercept with a minute to play to add to College’s lead going into the final break up 3729.
It held that lead in an even game that came down to crucial moments.
‘‘St Hilda’s were pretty tidy. But College created plenty of pressure through court which produced some crucial ball,’’
College coach Lauren Piebenga said.
Semifinal two went goal for goal for three minutes before an intercept in the midcourt gave Physed the opportunity to go up one.
But it failed to convert off its centre pass.
It took until the eighth minute for Physed to convert a break into a lead, going up 106 with two minutes left in the first quarter and left Physed up 118 at quarter time.
Bridie Burns grabbed an intercept for Southern, then it scored off the centre pass to bring it back to even just over a minute in.
Physed worked back into the game with tenacious defence, but Southern put the foot down just before the break to lead 1917 at halftime.
Miscommunication in the
Physed attack end created an error that Southern pounced on to build its lead to 2217 within the first minute.
Again Southern’s shooting was not flash but the ability to rebound got it out of trouble.
It went up 2919 halfway through the third quarter.
Physed again fought back, going into the final break down 3328.
The final quarter went goal for goal for the first nine minutes.
But a missed shot from Physed, that Penny Johnston rebounded for Southern, started the roll that took Southern to the finish, 4334.
In the other games, Physed B beat South Pacific Titans A in a convincing 4925 performance to give them a spot in the fifth v sixth playoff.
Physed C beat University Albion A 4846 in extra time.