WENTWORTH continued their unbeaten run this season to advance to the A-grade netball grand-final on Saturday.
The Roos withstood the challenges put to them by the talented Mildura team in their second semi-final at Kenny Park.
A big crowd gathered around the perimeter of the Kenny Park netball court to witness this much anticipated A-grade netball match between the top two teams.
While the final 30-goal margin, 58-28, suggested a convincing Wentworth win, the scoreboard didn’t reflect the true competitiveness of this final.
Wentworth coach Amanda Edwards conceded as much post-game.
“The scoreboard didn’t show how tight the competition was out there, so I’m really proud of the girls. It’s so nice to be in that grand final,” Edwards said.
In a tense start, the teams traded goals as they tried to settle and negotiate the expectations of the occasion. With the scores locked at five apiece, there seemed little between the two teams.
Both teams were clean with possession when in transition, and both defences made it hard for the shooters to get easy shots on goal.
With nerves settled, Wentworth suddenly clicked into another gear.
They piled on 11 unanswered goals to take a 16-5 quarter-time lead.
Natalie Vercher and Christie Becker were seemingly able to intercept or deflect the pass every time Mildura tried to feed the ball into their shooters.
At the same time, in the front half, Amanda Edwards and Liz Rowe proved to be a dual shooting threat.
Edwards said her team had repeatedly been able to get the jump on other sides this season.
“We knew that they were going to come out strong. Credit to my girls; we like to keep doing that. It’s been nice during the year to contest early, push on, and not let other teams creep back in, so hopefully, we can continue doing that.”
Mildura showed they could match it with the minor premiers during the second quarter. Limiting Wentworth to just 13 goals proved that the Demons defensive game stacks up against the best. However, despite these efforts, Wentworth still stretched the margin by a further three goals, 14 in total at the halftime break.
With a match-winning lead established, Wentworth showed great composure when in possession. They were precise with their passing, willing to attack the game with speed when the opportunity arose, and patient enough to wait for the best option when under pressure. Molly Young was instrumental in determining the game tempo.
Edwards said her team had a focus on remaining composed with the ball.
“Patience, that’s been a keyword of ours for the final series. Be patient with the ball, and don’t force those ones. You get that ball, and you’ve got a treasure it like gold, so I think we did really well today with that. We used the ball well. We moved the defence when we needed to, and it created opportunities.”
Wentworth won the second-half quarters by seven and eight goals, respectively, in a dominant display on the scoreboard.
The young Mildura team will be better for the finals experience and will back up in the preliminary final next week as they look to make the most of their double chance.
Mildura co-coach Jess McNamara was disappointed to lose but proud of her team’s efforts.
“I think they put out there all today. There are things that we need to improve on, but we told the girls that we can keep our heads held high.”
Fellow co-coach Sharon Watson conceded the Wentworth team had the edge in finals experience but is hopeful that her young team will be better for the run and can make the most of their double chance.
“They’ve got a bit more experience on us in that respect, obviously having played a bit longer together,” she said.
“We’re not leaving any excuses. We know we’ve got stuff to work on, and maybe this is a little bit of the entree, and hopefully, we can get the main next week and then get dessert the week after.”
