By Paul-Andre Walker, Staff ReporterSURPRISE WAS the name of the game yesterday at the Leila Robinson Courts when Dunoon got their hands on their 16th ISSA/UGI Urban netball title with the 27-21 defeat of favourites Holy Childhood High.
In the Junior competition, Wolmer's came away 22-21 winners in a close final against a hard fighting Ascot team which was enjoying its first final and almost first title.
In earlier games, St. Hugh's were awarded the third-place position in the seniors by way of a walkover, Wolmer's, their would-be opponents, only managed to field four players for the game and so had to forfeit. In the junior competition, Ardenne outlasted Queen's in what was also a nail-biting finish, 18-17.
In the Senior game the battle was fought defensively. The shooting percentages weren't as high as was the case in the Junior game but the physical nature of the clash made it one of the best finals in the past ten years of the competition.
Dunoon's Sophia Grant posed numerous problems for the Holy Childhood team and their decision to put larger players to mark her took away from their offence.
SUBSTITUTION
The substitution of Holy Childhood centre Shanica Curburne, due to illness, wasn't any help either as the team's offence bottomed out. While they were unable to find anything offensively their energy in defence kept the game close until their turnovers were capitalised upon by a fitter stronger Dunoon team.
Many-time winning coach C. Loyd Walker was thankful for another title.
"Nothing brings success but hard work. Nobody factored Dunoon in this competition but the girls worked hard and I'm proud and thankful to them for that."
Down but not out were the thoughts of losing coach of Holy Childhood, Wayne Stewart.
"We have problems with tall physical players because at our school we don't have many tall girls playing the sport. This meant that we had to concentrate better players on marking the Dunoon goal shooter and that shot our offence. I can't blame anyone in particular, we made too many mistakes so we couldn't get back into the game but we will be back. I said that last year and I'll say it again," he said.
LOST THEIR WAY
In the Junior final, Wolmer's showed poise and composure at the beginning of their game but lost their way somewhat and created a number of turnovers to end the first half down 13-12.
The game was always going to be about who kept the ball the best as shooters from both teams refused to miss. Wolmer's Tauna-che Campbell for instance shot 15 for 15. Despite this, Wolmer's went even further behind in the second half. They managed to compose themselves however, and eke out the victory in the very last play of the game.
Wolmer's coach, Bobby White, expected the close final that was on show and was happy about the result.
"We knew we could pull it off but we also knew that it was going to be a tough game. My team lost some focus because of the large crowd and the noise so I tried to get them to focus and once they did that they were able to pull it off," he said.
Losing coach Everton Samuels was not too disappointed with the result.
"We got a little bit too complacent and it meant that we gave it up when we really needed it the most. We can't feel bad about ourselves though, this is the first time for us in this competition and I have to say that I'm proud of the girls performance," he said.
