Katunga secured C-grade Picola District Netball League spoils on Saturday.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
Katunga was not going home empty-handed on grand final day.
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Despite the A-grade netball contingent missing out on the Picola District Netball League spoils, the club’s C-grade side prevailed in a genuine white-knuckler over Waaia.
The game was played parallel to the A-grade decider, and you could’ve forgiven fans by the main court for stealing a glance over at the Swans-Bombers blockbuster as the match seemed primed to go right down to the wire.
Which it certainly did.
A bumper final quarter went goal for goal with the last effort surely sealing the win, and thankfully for Katunga, it managed to get the two goal buffer that knocked the stuffing out of Waaia.
Katunga's Indiya Parker searches for a pass amid traffic.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
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Katunga's Jess Legge goes for goals.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
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Katunga's Stacey Weeks hits the deck.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
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Waaia's Teashia Dietrich matches up against Katunga's Rachael Howden.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
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Waaia's Andrea Walker was a force all game for the Bombers.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
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Waaia's Zoe Cooper winds up a bounce pass.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
Following the 41-39 victory, playing coach Stacey Weeks — who was named as best on court for her heroics — was rapt with how the match played out.
“It was a really tight tussle, we knew Waaia were going to be a hard competition today,” she said.
“They made the grand final the last three years and were looking for redemption, but this is the first time we’ve made it in three years so to our credit we never gave up.
“We always stuck with it, we trusted our process and in the end we came away with the win which was fantastic.”
Katunga went ahead early but the height of Waaia goaler Claire Dickenson meant nothing was off the table for the Bombers.
The Swans broke away with a six-goal lead, but a Bombers’ late resurgence reined it back to two at quarter-time.
Though Katunga gave little away in the second term, Waaia kept spice in the game with valiant drives but always remained three or four goals off the pace.
The Bombers, led by the wisdom of Andrea Walker, had to find another gear in the third quarter.
And they did.
Waaia clawed and scrapped to fight back to 32-all at the final break, setting up a genuine slog match which see-sawed for almost the entirety of the last 15 minutes.
However, when Katunga secured the golden two-goal margin, that was all she wrote.
Weeks spoke about the rolling message at each huddle to ensure the Swans had their bases covered.
“It was just to make sure we held our centre passes, made sure we kept possession of the ball and any turnover we had, make sure we convert,” she said.
“We just tried to work on that each quarter, and at the end of the day, whilst they pegged us back a bit in the third quarter, we managed to hang on.”
Weeks went on to praise Walker’s fight on the losing side while singling out Katunga goal shooter Indiya Parker for her pluck all game.
She also aimed praise at the trio of 17-and-under Swans — Chelsea Winn, Isabella Rogers and Angel Cook — who stepped up on the day.
“Every time they stepped on the court, they certainly held their own,” she said.
“I’m so proud of how they showed up and were able to actually impact the game even though they only played a little bit. They were fantastic.”
