As sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, A Grade netball matches between Horsham Demons and Horsham Saints will go down to the wire.

The two teams faced off in another thriller in Saturday’s second semi-final at Warracknabeal, with the Saints scoring a 62-61 win to seal a place in this year’s Wimmera league grand final.

The first half was goal-for-goal with scores level at 29 apiece at half time.

But the Demons gained the ascendency in the third term and went into the last break with a three-goal buffer.

Saints coach Jess Cannane made some positional changes in the defence end at three-quarter time, but swapped players back to their starting positions midway through the final term.

The reversal worked – with seven minutes remaining, the score was 60-54 the Demons’ way, but the Saints were able to regroup and score seven goals to hit the front by one goal.

“I’d made some positional changes just to give us a little bit more height in that defensive circle to see if we could try and get ourselves in front and it sort of had a little bit of the reverse effect with Horsham going on a bit of a run,” Cannane said.

“We reshuffled them back to what was working previously for a majority of the game and let them settle back in.”

The Demons pegged one back to level the score but Saints goal shooter Jorja Clode nailed a final goal to give the reigning premiers another shot at grand final glory.

Clode was again in brilliant form, shooting 48 of the Saints’ 62 goals.

“Jorja just provides our attacking end with lots of confidence and it’s always a battle between her and Ebony Salter. Jorja got stronger and stronger with regards to her holding position, which allows our midcourters the flexibility and freedom to let the ball fly and attack,” Cannane said.

“Then at the other end of the court we had Holly Phillips, who is very athletic and getting used to our gameplay the longer she’s been playing with us. She created lots of good hands over the ball and lots of tips and touches, and then turned them into intercepts, which provided Jorja with some more scoring opportunities.”

For the Demons, goal shooter Imogen Worthy and wing attack Georgia Carberry were named best.

The Demons will now play Dimboola in the preliminary final at Murtoa on Sunday. The Roos played one of their best games in weeks against Stawell in the elimination final at Coughlin Park on Sunday. From the outset, Dimboola was on song – jumping out to a 15-6 lead by quarter time, with shooter Nicole Polycarpou in fine form, contributing 10 goals for the Roos.

The Roos maintained their dominance in the second term and took a handy 32-17 lead into the main break.

Stawell clawed its way back into the game and got within nine goals late in the third quarter.

Taking an 11-goal lead into the fourth quarter, the Roos held off a Stawell comeback – the margin was at seven goals at one stage – but Dimboola remained supreme, finishing with a 56-45 win.

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