Proteas snatch netball challenge glory
SA girls too good for Zimbabwe as they defend their title
The Spar Proteas sealed the defence of their Diamond Challenge netball tournament title in style on Saturday with a 73-44 victory over Zimbabwe at the Ngoako Ramatlhodi Sports Complex in Polokwane. The win made it five out of five for the home side, who have dominated the tournament from start to finish.
Despite being given a tough challenge by Zambia on Friday and Zimbabwe on Saturday, the South Africans have won all their matches by more than 20 goals,
The Zim defence stood solid throughout the game, but mistakes crept into their midcourt play.
That was also thanks to an outstanding performance by Proteas goal defence, Karla Pretorius. Half-time was reached on 34-18 after a repeat of the first quarter scores. While the third period was a far closer (17 goals to 15), the Proteas ran away with it in the final 15 minutes.
They earned turnovers with regularity, and were quick on the counter-attack for the Zimbabweans, meaning they could open up the winning margin to 29 goals.
“It’s such a good feeling. I think the scoreline doesn’t really mean much. What means much is what we put on court today,” said SA captain Bongi Msomi, later named player of the tournament. “Yesterday we weren’t satisfied with what we did, so today the plan was to go out hard and implement our strategies.
“As usual, there’s always room to grow, but this was a great performance. I’m really proud of the girls,” added Msomi. Summing up the tournament, Proteas coach Norma Plummer added: “I put the girls under a lot of pressure because I was introducing different strategies and tactics for them and I wanted them to implement them. “Some of it came off really well, some of it they struggled a bit. I’m trying to make them self-sufficient in the pressure situations. I’m satisfied about where they are now ahead of the Quad Series, where the games will be five times more difficult.” Meanwhile, earlier in the day, the SA President’s XII claimed a 58-35 victory over Botswana to finish the tournament with four wins in five matches.
‘‘ There is always room to grow, this was a great performance