Noradjuha-Quantong came into Saturday’s Horsham District A Grade netball qualifying final against Edenhope-Apsley confident.

The Bombers had drawn their first match against the Saints before beating them by 10 goals in round 15, and entered the finals on an 11-match winning streak.

But only eight minutes into the game, Edenhope-Apsley led 10-2.

With momentum on their side and VNL-listed Hannah Magasanik creating turnovers in the midcourt, the Saints threatened to put the game out of reach early.

Noradjuha-Quantong coach Taylor Shelley said her team kept its nerve however, leaning on its veteran nous to work back to within a goal by the quarter-time siren.

“Obviously they had their centre Magasanik who we hadn’t come up against,” Shelley said.

“I think it took us a little bit to figure out her game on Saturday, but once we figured that out I think we played some really fantastic netball.

“I think it was a really great match-up between her and Jess Leader on our side.

“I think they both have a huge physical presence on the court and both bring a lot of netball smarts. So I was actually really excited to see that match-up, and I don’t think it disappointed.”

With Leader working to neutralise Magasanik’s midcourt influence, Bomber Holly Nuske began to run free at wing attack, while defender Leah Mirtschin clamped down on Saint coach Lavinia Fox, who had looked threatening early in the first term.

Noradjuha-Quantong took the lead in the second quarter, pushing its advantage to seven goals by the last change before winning 46-41.

Shelley said studying Edenhope-Apsley’s game plan prior to the finals had paid dividends.

“We’d obviously done a bit of studying of Edenhope’s matches over the last couple of weeks, so we sort of knew what they had up their sleeve,” she said.

“We just waited to settle into the game that we knew we could play.”

While the Bombers now advance to a second semi-final against Laharum on Saturday with a chance to advance directly to the grand final, Shelley said her team would need to lift again.

“It’s a bit of an unknown. We haven’t played since round five and I think we’ve shown a lot of growth in that time,” she said.

“Laharum is obviously an incredibly well-drilled team and they’ve played a lot of netball together over the last few years.

“When we came up against them earlier in the season they knew what they had to do and we were sort of still figuring it out.

“But we’re playing an incredible style of netball at the moment, so I think it’ll be a really good match-up again.”

Elimination final

Sunday’s elimination final at Harrow Recreation Reserve was another back-and-forth affair, with Pimpinio holding a one-goal lead at the quarter and half-time breaks before the Kees pulled ahead in the second half, winning 46-41.

Kalkee coach Millie McCrae moved Tamika Mentha into the centre in the second half, with Jenna Bywaters substituting for co-captain Jarrah Martin in the second term after starting on the bench.

But it was defender Emily Polack who played arguably the most important role for her side, helping keep star Pimpinio goalie Tahlia Thompson to 17 scores for the match. Thompson’s partner in goals Mikayla Dumesny kept her side in the game with 24 conversions, but the height and length of Kalkee opponent Lotus Martin harried her into 10 misses as well.

Up by as much as nine goals in the last quarter, Kalkee looked to have the game comfortably in hand before a late 6-1 run by the Tigers trimmed the deficit to three goals, but the Kees maintained their composure to score the final two goals and preserve the win.

Kalkee will now meet Edenhope-Apsley in Sunday’s first semi-final at Edenhope, with the Saints having won their only encounter during the home-and-away season by 15 goals.

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