YMP, Whangara Old Girls keen to take shorter route to grand final

Whangara Old Girls (1) goal shoot Tiara Weir gets her hands on the ball under pressure from YMP (1) goal keep Keasi Fonohema in a July 29 Premier Grade netball clash. YMP won this one comfortably but Whangara are expected to produce a stronger performance tonight in their 1 v 2 semifinal in the YMCA. Picture by Paul Rickard

Direct passage to the Gisborne Premier Grade netball championship grand final beckons tonight in the YMCA for YMP or Whangara Old Girls.

Their Pak‘nSave 1 v 2 semifinal game at 7.30pm promises to be a battle royal.

Defending champions Turanga FM YMP (1) finished the two points rounds unbeaten — 12 wins from 12 games — by working together strongly as a team on attack and in defence.

They won convincingly last time they met Whangara but the time before that, only one goal separated the rivals.

Now it’s crunch time in the competition when anything can happen and both  teams know the importance of a victory tonight.

The winners go straight through to the final on Saturday, August 19, while the losers will next Wednesday face the winners of the 3 v 4 elimination  semifinal (Claydens Waikohu v Horouta Koura) being played at the Y on Saturday.

A highly competitive game is expected tonight. Both teams like to move speedily through the court, delivering fast passes while working together across the court in defence to pressure the ball carrier.

A big crowd of supporters for both teams is expected, as is a high quality of netball.

In the first of the bottom-three round-robin playoffs at 6pm tonight, Gisborne Girls’ High Senior A play Farmlands Ngatapa.

The students have been playing solid netball with all players working together and this has seen them push some of the higher-ranked teams.

Girls’ High missed out on making the top  four playoffs, so will be determined to  bank a win tonight and go on to claim the fifth-ranking for 2023.

In their last game, Ngatapa had some good passages of play where they stopped the students’ flow of ball and created their own turnovers.

They will need to have more of these if they are to stop Girls’ High.