Catch-cry for Chanel spurs Kuranui to win

"Let's do it for Chanel" was the catch-cry which spurred Kuranui College to their 53-37 win over Sports Arena Carterton in their Netball Wairarapa premier one semi-final clash at the Genesis Recreation Centre, Masterton on Monday evening.
The Chanel in question was centre Chanel Phillips, the team skipper and current head girl at Kuranui who is in her last year of schooling there.
Coach Lynda Strange said her squad was determined to earn a grand final spot for Chanel as a going away present.
The only one of the current line-up not returning to Kuranui next year, she has been part of their A netball side since they first won promotion to the premier one grade three seasons ago and has made a huge impression with her leadership during their latest campaign, both on and off the court.
"The players have huge respect for her&she;'s a very special type of person," Strange said of Chanel Phillips.
"She leads by example in everything she does, she never gives less than 100 per cent. The girls were desperate to make the final for her, they talked about it a lot."
While their 16-goal margin might suggest otherwise the semi-final was certainly not all one-way traffic for Kuranui.
In fact, it was Sports Arena Carterton who led by a solitary goal, 10-9, at the end of a first quarter which saw Kuranui miss five shots at goal.
It was a different story in the second quarter though with Kuranui markedly improving their success rate in the shooting circle and going to the halftime break with a 23-18 advantage.
By the end of the third quarter the result was pretty much in the bag with Kuranui out to a commanding 40-29 lead and they outscored their opposition over the remaining 15 minutes of play as well.
Typically, the enthusiasm and high workrate of Chanel Phillips in the centre position was a huge contributing factor to the Kuranui victory and her two sisters, Waimarama and Te Ata, were also in splendid form at opposite ends of the court.
Waimarama Phillips finished with an excellent shooting percentage of 79 per cent while Te Ata Phillips picked up a number of tips and intercepts on defence, an area of the game in which Jade Gould and Meg Roberts also impressed.
Coach Strange was especially pleased with the intensity of Kuranui, something they will need in big doses in the final with the all conquering Harcourts side at the Colombo Road courts in Masterton on Saturday.
"We actually got a couple of turnovers for held ball and that comes from pressure," she said.
If past history counts for anything Kuranui's chances of beating Harcourts would, in all honesty, be very remote at best.
The two sides have met on three occasions this season with Harcourts winning 53-19, 86-27 and, in the semi-final round just last Saturday, 63-13.
That's an advantage to Harcourts of 202 to 59, hardly the sort of scenario which suggests Kuranui have any hope of turning the tables on this occasion.
Strange, of course, needs no reminding of the magnitude of the task confronting her side on Saturday but she also knows that Harcourts were upset by St Matthews's Collegiate in last year's final when hot favourites as well.
"I guess no team is unbeatable and we will certainly be going out there intent on giving it our best shot," she said
"The focus for us is on playing as well as we possibly can, do that and everybody will be happy."
Strange said the big test for Kuranui would be how they coped with the speed at which a fit and always assertive Harcourts line-up play the game."
"They do everything at pace and they are in your face the whole game," she said.
"They create more turnovers than other teams because they go harder for the ball. They don't give you an inch in that respect."
Win, lose or draw, however, Kuranui will come away with their best-ever result in the premier one competition.
They were second to bottom two years ago in their debut season in the premier league and third last year.
"We always had the goal of making the final this time and we've done it & the girls all deserve tremendous credit for getting this far," Strange said.
Start time for the Harcourts v Kuranui match on Saturday is 1.30pm and it will be preceded by three other finals, the premier four between Eketahuna and Wairarapa College B at 10.30am, the premier three between St Matthew's Junior A and Trevs 2 at 1.30am and the premier two between Fagan Hots Shots and Pioneer Blue at 12.30pm.