Two wins during yesterday's fourth and final day saw Hawke's Bay finish ninth at the national under-17 netball tournament in Palmerston North.
The Lee-Anne Taylor-coached Bay side beat North Otago 35-27 in their first outing yesterday. As the score suggests it was a tight and physical affair with all of the Bay players needing to dig deep.
Janayah Lewis and Imke Kitchin shot well and assisting their teammates on defence which allowed midcourters Jaimee Tapine and Asher Grapes to take some clear intercepts. Hawke's Bay were ahead 8-5 after the first quarter.
North Otago continued to work hard on defence and forced Hawke's Bay into errors. Versatile Liana Mikaele-Tu'u provided some strong drives on attack but Hawke's Bay found it hard to deliver the ball to their shooting end. They were ahead 16-15 at halftime.
It continued this way through the third quarter and Hawke's Bay had a 24-22 lead at the start of the fourth. Some tenacious defence from Tapine and Valentine Kahukura along with midcourter Ashleigh Poi and Grapes saw Kitchin and Mikaele-Tuu dominate the shooting statistics in the final quarter.