One-sided premier final

Harcourts made no race of their Netball Wairarapa premier one grand final match with Wairarapa College at the Colombo Rd courts in Masterton on Saturday, winning by 57-28.

The defending champions were a class above their youthful opposition, racing out to an 8-1 lead midway through the first quarter through a mix of precise attacking play and solid defence.

From that point on Wairarapa College were always in chasing mode and they never looked like bridging the gap. By the end of that first quarter Harcourts had gone out to a commanding 16-6 advantage and by halftime they had exactly doubled the Wairarapa College scoreline, leading by 32-16.

Going into the third and fourth quarters, the end result was virtually guaranteed with the only question being was whether Wairarapa College would be more competitive over that period of play, and perhaps even reduce the margin between the two sides to some degree.

Harcourts were in no mood to take the foot off the pedal and by the time the final whistle sounded they had built their lead to a massive 29 goals.

This was a superb all-round effort by Harcourts with the emphasis always being on slick teamwork.

There were several outstanding performances, none more so than that by wing attack. Carlene Karaitaina was exceptional, linking through the midcourt on attack with the equally lively Katie Wyeth was very impressive and, between them, they ensured shooters Geraldine Carroll and player-coach Kelly Sargent were given a relatively comfortable ride. And they took full advantage of it, successfully converting a high percentage of their goal-scoring opportunities into points on the board.

The accuracy of the attacking play was complemented by the solidness of the Harcourts defence where Shontelle Renata, Sarah Watson and Eleina Mitchell constantly placed heavy pressure on their opposition whenever they had the ball in their possession.

Wairarapa College were simply never allowed to get any rhythm into their game. Nobody could ever accuse them of throwing in the towel but they were clearly frustrated by their inability to cope with the quality of the Harcourts play and the confidence which had been so apparent in their semifinal win over Pioneer Blue was missing in much of their play on this occasion.

Individually though there was enough tenacity in the efforts of shooters Judy Brown and Keisha Isaia-Hapimana to suggest they have bright futures in that role and both Kahu Brown and Georgia Faraimo had some good moments on defence.

The premier reserve final between Makoura College and Carterton New World Lynx was an absolute cracker of a game with Makoura storming home in an enthralling last quarter to snatch the honours 35-33.

The four other finals were also close-fought affairs, Wairarapa College B edging out Carterton New World Red 20-19 in premier two, Eketahuna beating St Matthew's B 23-19 in premier three, Featherston Black Sox defeating Carterton New World White 24-23 in premier four and Hiona beating Carterton New World Social 17-15 in senior A.