The Divas and Nymagee Magpies cele-brated grand final wins in the Cobar Senior Netball competition last Tuesday night.
Both sides finished as comfortable winners of their respective games with Divas beating Pumpettes 47-33 in A Grade while Nymagee Magpies outplayed Real Steel to win their B Grade match 46-23.
The Divas got off to a flying start in A Grade to have a 10 goal lead at the first break thanks to sensational shooting by Lauren Ur-quhart and Jennifer Shepherd.
Both shooters continued to shoot with high accuracy throughout the match.
Divas had both ends of the court covered with former Cobar Blues representatives, Amie Hill and Demi Smith, holding up the defence end.
The pair read the game well to constantly intercept passes and their well coordinated, synchronized defence limited the Pumpettes’ shooters opportunities.
Divas were also well served by their ability to make more efficient use of the ball while Pumpettes constantly struggled throughout the match to move the ball down the court to their shooters.
The Pumpettes however continued to put up a fight throughout the game.
A brilliant re-start in the fourth quarter, where Pumpettes scored the first four consecu-tive points, demonstrated they were not yet ready to concede, and raised the hopes of the crowd that it would be a close finish.
Divas however quickly recovered from the “blip” and bounced back to once again take control of the match to finish with a 14 point win.
Pumpettes’ Goal Attack, Neve Carter, de-servedly earned the A Grade Player of the Grand Final award for her tenacity and unwa-vering commitment in both attack and defence throughout the game.
In the B Grade game that proceeded the A Grade match, Real Steel had the better start when they scored easy first points after being awarded a penalty in the ring.
A early period of frenzied, hurried play then ensued, which saw the centre court continu-ously congested with players, before the Nymagee Magpies settled down and got them-selves into a smooth playing rhythm.
They finished the first quarter 10 points in front at 16-6.
Despite constantly making changes through-out the match to make sure all nine players got plenty of court time, the Magpies’ game plan didn’t deviate and by half time, they had ex-tended their lead to 12 points, with the score at 23-11.
Real Steel also made constant position changes throughout the match to make sure their two subs also got a run.
They also made positional changes on court in an effort to strengthen their defence and shut down Magpies’ shooters, Mollie Harley and Kate Taylor, who were on point all game.
Harley barely missed a shot under the ring while Taylor kept sinking them from long range. Magpies also had the luxury of using a third shooter with Peta Woods adding four goals to their score in her stint in the ring!
Real Steel’s versatile mid court player, Ash-ley Cousins, was named as the B Grade Player of the Grand Final.
