Netball: Otane claim crown No 11 in Super 8

Otane goal shoot Ashlee Wilson lines up a shot as All In goal defence Sonee-Lee Waerea takes stock in Napier tonight. Photo/Warren Buckland

Expect the unexpected is the norm when you play finals in any sport because that's what clinches titles.

Thirsty Whale Otane had that sixth sense and All In Elusive didn't as the favourites walked away with their 11th Super 8 crown with a 59-50 victory in Napier tonight.

Otane had tabled a respectable 17-11 statement in the first quarter.

The Charissa Barham-coached All In side did well to exchange tit-for-tat goals in the first couple of minutes but as the Tammy Kupa and Jewels Falcon co-coached Otane tightened the pressure, their rivals started showing cracks.

Unforced errors crept in, gaps started opening and All In began suffering from blurred vision as their passes were snaffled at will amid some speculative relays.

Otane didn't ease their foot off All In's throat in the second quarter, winning that 16-11 to go into halftime 33-22 up.

The Candis Timms-captained All In didn't lack heart but certainly lacked composure in doing the basics their coach had talked about in the build up to the game.

Conversely the Briar Chalmers-skippered Green Machine had an air of invincibility about them.

Their passes stuck like Velcro, the cohesiveness and movement on court was simply poetry in motion and they seemed to have all the time in the world to find each other.

Otane always appeared to have an extra player looming unmarked on the fringes while their goal defence, Chalmers, and goal keep Alex Balhorn made life uncomfortable for goal shoot Imke Kitchin and goal attack Jemma Kendon when it came to feeding passes.

Perhaps another indicator of that authority on court was the champions sticking to their starting line up into the final quarter while All In made a flurry of changes from the first spell.

Barham and her assistant, Adrienne Morrin, slipped bibs as Timms moved from centre to wing attack before returning to her starting post.

Deanna Muir, who had come off the bench to assume the mantle of centre, slipped on the wing defence bib in the final quarter.

In the third quarter, schoolgirl Kendon came in at goal attack as Natalie Brown went to goal defence after starting as goal keep.

Angela Stubbs shifted to wing attack, Timms back to centre and Sonee-Lee Waerea shuffled back to goal keep.

All In came back strongly with 17-13 (46-35) in the third quarter and 15-13 (59-50) but were playing catch-up netball by that stage as Otane teetered around the 10-plus margin throughout the game.

Otane shooters Kelsey McPhee shot 90 per cent at goal attack while goal shoot Ashlee Wilson racked up 85 per cent.

The game-high percentage stakes belonged to lanky teenager Kitchin (93 per cent) at goal shoot while Kendon backed up at 67 per cent and Kia Diamond managed 33.

Napier Girls' High School Senior A beat Hastings High School Old Girls' Proactive Huias 42-39 in the playoff for 3rd/4th last night.

Janaya Preece shot 77 per cent and Janayah Lewis wasn't far behind with 76 for NGHS while Laike Baker managed 67 per cent in the circle.

For Huias, Judy Brown took a game-high 93 per cent but Rebecca van Rooyen managed only 14 per cent.