Marist prove a point in final

Whangarei Girls' High School on their way to beating Fideliter in the third place play-off.Marist 1 held off a last-minute surge from their clubmates Marist Combined, for a well-deserved 40-39 win in the grand final of Whangarei Premier Netball on Friday night.
There were stand-out performances from goal-shoot Althena Birch and goal-keep Davina Cooper from Marist, who held the advantage throughout the match.
Nervous early exchanges from both sides kept the scoring low for the first period with Marist holding a 10-7 lead at the first break.
Combined hit the court running early into the second quarter, cutting down Marist's advantage and drawing even within the first few minutes. However, Marist  maintained their composure, with strong full-court defence and they showed patience on attack, pulling ahead again.
The height and strength of Marist goal attack Moana Clark offered options for her feeders, and space for Birch, in countering the  reach of the Combined defence.
At halftime, Marist were ahead 22-19, and  Combined  had to play catch-up in the second half.
The experience of Combined knew the value of a strong start and mounted another comeback after the break to yet again draw even early in the spell.
But  Marist rallied and their full-court pressure along with a sterling effort from the Marist circle defence of Harriette Hardy and Davina Cooper, limited the options in to the shooters.
In the final quarter Combined moved Sophie Tua from the midcourt into goal attack, which paid dividends early.
Tua created movement and options for the Combined attack, a positional change which perhaps should have been made earlier as it appeared too little, too late.
Despite yet another comeback, Combined were not able to break their clubmates' resolve with Marist taking this year's championship title.
Proud coach Eve Barton was delighted but not surprised both the sides met in the final.
"It was my goal to have both sides in the final, and what a battle.
"They were streets ahead of everyone else in the competition. It just shows how close the two sides are, in the end, it was decided by just one goal," she said.
Many neutrals would have liked to see the young Whangarei Girls' High School team make the finals but they had to be content with beating 2008 finalist Fideliter 1, 43-29, to take third place.
After a nervous start from both sides the schoolgirls got into their stride and took control of the match early, their aerial game causing hesitation from Fideliter.
Up by six at the end of the first half, WGHS looked like they were just getting on a roll. The ever-reliable  Fideliter defensive circle of Loren Eagle and Megan Topia worked tirelessly, but bonus possession was not being banked on the scorecard. A number of changes were made at the break to try and gain more control over proceedings.
Unfortunately these changes didn't pay off, with WGHS going from strength to strength. Led by classy centre Sian Telfer and outstanding defensive efforts from WGHS goal keep Jamie-Lee Tito and goal defence Luana Beasley-Tango, they made life difficult for Fideliter, with goal attack Amelia Smith creating nice space in attack  while her accuracy ensured it counted.
WGHS never looked like taking their foot off the pedal and in the end won comfortably.
Fideliter player-coach Loren Eagle was disappointed with the result, but didn't take anything away from the schoolgirls.
"We didn't capitalise on our possession and lost sight of the game plan, as a result we were outplayed," she said.
WGHS coach Hayley Taylor was delighted with the whole team, who have climbed from the wooden spoon last year to third place. 'They just really wanted it and have built on every performance over the last three weeks,"she said. "We leave for nationals this the weekend, so it feels like they're peaking at the right time."