Story and pictures by Leslie Tan
Toa Payoh Sports Hall, Thursday, April 10, 2008 – The Singapore Sports School held off a Cedar Girls’ fightback in the third quarter to win 37-27 and march on into the B Division Netball Championship Final.
Sports School, as yet unbeaten throughout their B Division campaign, jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead but Cedar Girls’ made a game of it to close the gap to 4-5. By the end of the first quarter, Sporst School had a slim two-point lead at 7-5.
The second quarter saw more of the same as Sports School kept their noses comfortably in front, leading 10-7, then 12-10 with three minutes to half-time. By the end of the second quarter, they had increased their lead to four points at 16-12.
In the third quarter, things heated up when Cedar Girls’ mounted a fightback. Narrowing the deficit to two points at 15-17 with 7:50 to go on the clock, Cedar Girls’ finally hauled themselves level at 17-17 moments later as they shut down the Sports School attack. At 6:12, Cedar Girls’ finally pulled ahead 18-17 to deafening cheers from their supporters.
The lead was short-lived, however, as Sports School pulled level 18-18. The two teams continued to exchange goals but Sports School edged ahead at 22-19. Sports School then gave themselves some breathing room when they pulled clear at 25-19 by the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Sports School showed their strength. Pulling ahead to 27-20, they led by 10 points at 32-22 with 4:05 left on the clock. While their scoring dipped slightly, Sports School were never seriously threatened in the fourth and finally closed off the game 37-27 winners.
When asked about their final opponents CHIJ (Toa Payoh), Sports School captain Melody Teo said: “We’re quite confident. They are equally good. Whoever plays well on the day will win.”
“Cedar Girls’ are a good team,” said Sports School coach Robin Manihera. “At this level, whoever makes the least errors on the day wins.”
N.B. If you recognise the players, feel free to leave their names in the comments section with reference to the photo number and we’ll update the captions. Thanks.
Any updates on the national finals?
THE FINALS IS TOMORROW 😀
B DIV
SPORTS SCHOOL VS CHIJ TP 😀
C DIV
RAFFLES VS CHIJ TP 😀
Cedar’s GK is Anooja. final score was 37-27, no doubt.
when’s the final?
uncle les, thanks, for updating all the sports news.. !
any updates on c div?
hello melly, thanks for the updates. : )
34-22? It was 32-22 with about 4 minutes left on the clock and I thought I did look at the electronic scoreboard to check the 37-27 final score.
Of course, I am half blind sometimes and so may have made a mistake. ; )
Where did your score come from? The umpires table or your own schoolmates keeping score?
the score was 34-22
Photo 1: GA-Sonia
Photo 2: C-Bhaama
Photo 3: GS-Nashita
Photo 5: WA-Ira
Photo 7: GS-Nashita
Photo 8: GS-Nashita
Photo 9: GA-Sonia
Thanks (:
Cedar’s C – Cherie
Cedar’s WD – Shakilah
Cedar’s GS – Xin Yi
Cedar’s GD – Parveen