Blackman And Gollop “A” delivered an “A” class performance to defeat a very competitive St Giles Primary 20-13 in the final of the Pine Hill Dairy-sponsored National Sports Council’s Primary Schools Netball Competition at the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex today.
Assistant director of the National Sports Council Mona Alleyne, president of the Barbados Netball Association Nisha Cummins, representatives from the ten respective zones in the competition along with other netball officials were treated to an exciting Blackman And Gollop “A” opened the scoring through goal-attack T’shanni Payne with two goals. St Giles responded through their goal-shoot Kellisa Kelly, who did not have the best of games. Her three goals in the game came from seven attempts but she had to deal with serious defensive pressure from Shonica Griffith. However, Kelly would later be named the most outstanding goal-shooter in the competition. Blackman And Gollop “A” went into the second quarter leading 6-3 much to the delight of their supporters.
Payne who ended the game with eight goals from her nine attempts was on the attack once again in the second half and she opened the scoring once again. Blackman And Gollop “A” used a lot of bounce passes combined with their speed to maneuver their way around the timid looking St Giles Primary players who did not show the pluck they had displayed throughout the competition. At the end of the second quarter Blackman And Gollop had increased their lead to 9-5.
In the third quarter it was clear that the girls from the Ivy, St Michael had some catching-up to do and goal-attack Donella Reid who scored ten goals from 11 attempts was the one who took the fight to Blackman And Gollop in this quarter. Reid scored six vital goals which took St Giles’ tally up to 13. However Blackman And Gollop still led 15-13 going into the fourth and decisive quarter.
Following that third-period surge supporters were on their feet to witness whether St Giles would manage to take the lead and continue their dominant record of capturing the most netball titles in the competition or Blackman And Gollop would maintain their lead and claim their first Pine Hill netball trophy.
But it was a case of things falling apart for St Giles. With Blackman And Gollop turning up their defensive intensity, the girls from the Ivy fell down on their shooting and did not score a single goal. Blackman And Gollop’s goal-shoot Danesha Davis had a superb game in the final quarter and ended on 12 goals from 14 attempts which were more than enough for her and her team to win their first ever netball championship.
In the third place play-off Bay Primary managed to cling on to a 13-12 victory over Luther Thorne Primary in what was also a good game. Both teams started off with a bang and after the first quarter the game was lock at 3-3.
Bay Primary added three goals to their total in the second quarter while Luther Thorne only added one to theirs which give Bay Primary a 6-4 lead going into the third quarter.
When the third quarter began Luther Thorne came out with plenty of energy and goal-attack Selena Taylor who scored eight from 10 attempts along with goal-shoot Leanna Brathwaite who ended with four from five, did well to pull back the game to an 8-8 scoreline going into the final quarter.
It was an exchange of goals in the final quarter but Bay Primary held on to a well deserved victory at the final whistle. Their goal-shoot Rowland Kirton Browne top-scored with seven goals from 16 attempts and goal-attack Jhenna Clarke a perfect six from six.
The Most Valuable Player prize went to Kimani Archer from Blackman And Gollop who played wing defense; Donnia Husbands of Wilkie Cumberbatch Primary won the individual shooting award and Bay Primary were adjudged the best team shooters in the competition.
Other outstanding individual prizes went to Blackman And Gollop goal-attack T’shanni Payne. Kianna Holder of St Giles won best wing-attack while her team-mate Sadia Russell was named the best goalkeeper. Bay Primary’s Vivica Addison was the best centre and Luther Thorne’s Jada Smith won the best goal defender prize.
Blackman And Gollop’s centre Shonica Griffith was given a special award donated by senior netball coach Anna Shepherd for her outstanding performance in the middle during the final.