River Valley dethrone MGS as West Zone C Division netball champions

Story by reader Erwin Wong. Photos by Vanessa Lim/Red Sports.

Jurong East Sports Hall, Friday, March 13, 2009 - Incumbent C Division West Zone Netball champions Methodist Girls' School were knocked off their perch as River Valley High School triumphed 24-21 over them in a pulsating final today.

MGS were beset with problems even before the opening whistle as half the team were either ill or injured, but they opened the scoring with a goal from Goal Attack and team captain Kayisa Tan, who was playing despite a fever. They made it 2-0 immediately from the restart as Goal Shooter Esther Cheah converted a shot, but that was their solitary lead in the entire match as River Valley quickly made their intentions known.

Working their way diligently into their offensive third of the court with pinpoint passing coupled with intelligent runs into spaces, River Valley Centre Tan Sin Yi and Wing Attack Felicia Soh constantly force-fed Goal Shooter Nicole Lim with high-arcing passes into the D. Nicole, whose massive height advantage over MGS Goalkeeper Loh Ten Yee rendered her shots virtually impossible to be blocked, converted 5 straight points to hand her team a lead they never relinquished. She was a perfect 8 of 8 in the first quarter and finished with an astounding 22/24 success rate, which she later attributed to ´practice and confidence'.

Esther kept MGS in the game by making 4 of her 5 attempts in the opening quarter, but they couldn't get defensive stops. Both teams traded 4 consecutive points to make it 7-4 before River Valley pulled away once again with a quarter-ending 3-1 run to lead 10-5 after the first 10 minutes.

The lead was quickly cut to 2 points upon resumption after a trio of conversions from Esther, which was what the MGS team set out to achieve before the match got underway. "We wanted to focus on putting in our shots, as well as not to throw away our centre passes." said Kayisa after the match. They racked up several turnovers in the second period, as did River Valley, but MGS improved on their team defence.

Ten Yee twice denied a pass inside to Nicole, and Wing Defence Sheryl Chew also stepped up her game with a couple of interceptions. But when the ball did make its way inside to Nicole, her aim was almost always true. She made all 4 of her shots in the 2nd quarter to neutralize Esther's 5 of 5 and enabled River Valley to lead 14-11 at half time.

The third period was dominated by scoring streaks. The River Valley advantage was soon doubled when play resumed as Sheryl continued her resilient hustle play while Ten Yee and Centre Joy denied an impending pass to Nicole, but the River Valley Goal Shooter scored 3 straight points even before MGS could make it to their attacking third of the court. They then stormed back with their own 3-0 run on the back of a couple of River Valley turnovers, to the delight of the MGS faithful. Nicole scored 2 more to jack the lead back up to 19-14 before registering her first miss.

That seemed to ignite the MGS players as they sped up-court from the rebound and got the ball in to Esther, who promptly scored. She then missed her next shot, but got her own rebound and converted on the second time of asking. Nicole then made it 20-16, and just as MGS was launching an attack in their offensive third, the whistle sounded to signal the end of the third period.

The intermission saw both camps of supporters get on their feet and punctuate the sports hall with well-rehearsed cheers and ear-piercing screams of encouragement to their respective players, as the final period got underway with tension reaching fever pitch.

Esther switched duties with Kayisa, but they combined to turn the ball over and miss a shot as Nicole scored twice to make it 22-16 early in the quarter. MGS chipped away at the deficit as Kayisa and Esther each scored to make it a 4 point game, and the latter coolly converted again to bring MGS within 19-22, as their schoolmates bellowed in approval.

The high-tempo, fast-paced game looked to be swinging in favour of MGS, but Nicole stuck a dagger into the hearts of the MGS team by scoring again after Sin Yi made her way to the top of the D for an easy pass. She then combined brilliantly with her Goal Attack to find Nicole again, but she failed to score for only the second time. She made amends several plays later by extending the lead to 24-19 with mere minutes to play. Kayisa and Esther again made it a 3 point game, but time ran out on MGS as the final whistle confirmed River Valley's 24-21 win over the reigning champions.

The stat sheets show that Nicole alone outscored the entire MGS team, but a beaming River Valley coach Miss Puva Alahakone was having none of that. "I'm very happy about the win, but the girls did it. They played together as a team, and worked to get every ball."

Both teams will now look ahead to the National round of competition, as they aim for greater things. Said Miss Alahakone: "We want to play as how we are playing currently, and not to lose possession easily. We hope to get into the top 4 of the Nationals, which we never have done before." A semi-final spot was also in MGS' sights, as Kayisa quipped: "We want to make it to at least the top 4 placings."

They will be joined by Nan Hua High School and Clementi Town Secondary School to represent the West Zone in this year's C Division National Schools Netball competition. Clementi Town edged out Nan Hua 31-30 in the 3rd and 4th placing game earlier.

All the best to all players and teams!

Scoring breakdown by quarter:
MGS v River Valley:
1st Q: 5-10
2nd Q: 6-4
3rd Q: 5-6
4th Q: 5-4
Final score: 21-24

Shooting accuracy:
MGS: 21/31
River Valley: 24/26

Editor's note: If you recognise yourself or your team mates in any of the photos, please feel free to leave the names behind in the comments section and we will update accordingly. Thanks!