Gisborne finish 14th in national netball champs

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Gisborne finished in 14th place at the Netball New Zealand Open Championships in Palmerston North.

They lost their last game, against Taranaki, 41-34.

It was a close game but Gisborne could not bridge the gap after Taranaki edged ahead by five goals in the second quarter.

Taranaki led 11-10 at the end of the first quarter, 23-18 at halftime and 32-27 at the end of the third quarter.

Gisborne pulled the deficit back several times without taking the lead. With five minutes to go in the third quarter, Gisborne were down by only two goals, 27-25, but by the end of the quarter Taranaki had stretched the gap to five again.

Halfway through the fourth quarter the margin was still five goals, but near the end Taranaki added two more.

At the top of the table, North Harbour beat Hamilton City 35-34 in the final.

Tauranga beat Counties Manukau Cluster 37-36 to take third place.

It was good to see the Netball New Zealand naional open championships back after a seven-year break, and to see the close scoring in the big games.