Netball: WHS kick up a gear to snatch finals victory

Kaierau shooter Suzanne Guilford looks to convert over WHS's goal keeper Kelera Kuruyabaki at Springvale Stadium on Monday night.PHOTO/LEWIS GARDNER

The clutch was stuck until late in the race, but when Phillips Electrical Wanganui High School A1 got it free, they found the extra gear needed to overtake and hold off Wanganui Car Centre Kaierau 42-41 in a tense 2014 Premier 1 final on Monday night.

The perennial contenders showed they had adapted to the stylings of the defending champion schoolgirls in the 12 months since the 56-38 hammering in 2013's final - wrestling the advantage early in the first quarter and holding firm right up until the last break. Having spent nearly three of the quarters pushing risky passes, failing to choke Kaierau in the mid-court and running up a heavy infringement count, WHS began getting their hands in Kaierau's passing channels while becoming much more clinical with their own possessions. Aggressive goal keep Kelera Kuruyabaki made some key steals, while at the other end, goal shoot Sammy Murphy eventually caught fire at the top of the shooting circle, following a few uncharacteristic misses earlier.

Pushing the tempo and pulling out to a four-goal lead with the clock winding down, WHS rebuffed the final surge by a brave Kaierau, whose goal defenders Melissa Crothers and Abbey Sherman had stifled much of WHS's natural flow to get under the hoop, giving goal attack Rachel Lynch opportunity and time to nearly make magic happen.

If she couldn't go over Kuruyabaki or her goal defence partner, Lelia Blackburn, the clever distributor Lynch was happy to go under or around them to find GS Suzanne Guilford, who shot very well under pressure until fatigue had set in by the final quarter.

Mid-court, WHS introduced Diana Taha Williams-Cribb to wing attack in the second quarter when centre Brodie Flower needed recovery time for a leg injury, and they kept her out there after Flower's return as she was putting some very good passes down the chain to Murphy.

Kaierau centre Amy Archer rued a couple of misdirected throws but hustled hard as she switched to wing attack when Kate Hutchings came on like last week, while wing defence Georgia Walford was also solid when Kaierau began finding more space around half-time.

WHS's defence seemed more likely of the two teams to force a held ball or get the tip away, but contacts and obstructions were building up against them with a growing frustration coming from the coaches bench.

Compounding that was the growing number of loose WHS passes or fumbles, given Kaierau knew they could win a scrappy affair.

Crothers and Sherman were looking tired, but they had done their job keeping Murphy in check as a two-point buffer at quarter-time became four by the half. Taking personal responsibility to force a turnaround, Kuruyabaki began to hound Lynch, which had WHS supporters finding voice and the umpire rattling off a symphony on the whistle.

But it worked as the schoolgirls regained the lead late in the third quarter before going goal-for-goal with Kaierau until the final break. The advantage calls were still mounting in their favour but Lynch and Guilford were beginning to show the wear and tear, while Williams-Cribb and GA Renee Butler fed Murphy some sweet hand-offs as the towering shooter found her range.

Having nailed five straight goals while conceeding just one as Kuruyabaki regathered several turnovers, WHS made an ally of the clock as Lynch lifted for one final dig to get rebounds and passes away from defenders slashing arms.

While Murphy had her last goal disallowed, Kaierau only had enough seconds left to close the gap to the one point right on the full-time whistle.

In the play-off for third/fourth, East Club Sportsedge would finish one spot better than their debut season after they pulled away from Kaiwhaiki over the second half to run out comfortable 70-56 winners.

After Kaiwhaiki were still hanging with them at 33-30 come the break, Sportsedge switched their line-up around and saw immediate improvement in forcing turnovers and the timing of passes through the court - which they converted into points.