Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Only one can take home gold after tough week
NORTH WEST made it through to the final of the National Netball Championships after beating Western Cape 37-14 in Margate, as Gauteng handed Free State their second loss in two days to book their place in the decider with a 20-27 victory.
“I knew it was going to be tough, but we set our goals to go in hard the first quarter. The excellent second quarter made it easier throughout the game. I am very proud of my players,” North West coach Dorette Badenhorst said.
Badenhorst, whose team has won all 10 games so far, said her side was really prepared for the tournament.
“It was a tough week. We prepared well and are ready for the final,” she said. “It is difficult to have a tough time in the semis and then play another tough game in the final the following day. But I’m happy with everything.”
Badenhorst’s North West outfit will face Jenny van Dyk’s Gauteng side whom they beat 26-36 earlier this week.
“It’s going to be a defensive game and the shooters must be doing their job and that will determine who will take gold,” Badenhorst said.
Her counterpart Van Dyk says it doesn’t matter how many games they’ve played already, they would rather go out and do well in the final.
“We spoke this morning and we said, ‘either way, we had 12 matches in this week which are a lot’,” she said. “So we rather go out in the final. We are looking forward to tomorrow and will definitely bring our best performance.”
“North West are a very good team and they’ve been playing together as a unit for a while. We will not underestimate them.
“But my girls have grown and shown character the whole week. I will go in today’s final with that confidence.”
Van Dyk’s team have lost only one game and it was North West who beat them.
It was not only North West’s Section A team that did well in the tournament, but all their teams across all divisions.
Their Section B1 team won their five games, their Under-21 A team also showed excellent performance to win nine games and the U-21s B team lost only one game to finish second on the log just behind Royal Bafokeng.