Sports School to face Anderson in North Zone C Division netball final after toppling Seng Kang

Story by REDintern Ng Enna. Photos by Koh Yizhe/Red Sports

Republic Polytechnic, Friday, March 5, 2010 - Defending zonal champions Singapore Sports School triumphed over Seng Kang Secondary 48-13 in a semi-final of the North Zone C Division Netball Championship.

With the victory, Sports School qualify for the final alongside Anderson Secondary, who beat North Vista Secondary 27-24 in the other semi-final.

Amelia Tan (GS) and Vikki Lim (GA) from the Sports School went on a scoring spree early in the game. Coupled with good defence, Sports School gave Seng Kang little opportunity to score.

With three minutes remaining in the first quarter, Roxanne Low (GS) from Seng Kang finally found the chance to score her team’s first goal. Nonetheless, Seng Kang made several costly turnovers, allowing Sports School to win the first quarter 13-1.

Seng Kang evidently stepped up their game in the second quarter. Roxanne Low (GS) and Janice Chai (GA) scored two goals each early in the quarter while Sports School’s Olivia Wu (GS) fumbled with the ball on several occasions.

However, Olivia made up for it by contributing six points in the quarter while teammate, Liz Chew (GA), scored the other nine points. The first half ended 28-5 in Sports School’s favour.

Seng Kang came back stronger after half-time and Janice (GA) drew first blood in the last two quarters. The third quarter was tighter but Sports School maintained their lead and ended the quarter 38-8 ahead.

Both teams were neck-and-neck early in the last quarter but Liz and Aqilah (GS) went on a scoring spree and extended the lead towards the end of the match. Sports School eventually beat Seng Kang 48-13.

Captain of the Sports School team, Dinah Amirah, commented, "It was a good win for the team. We've gone far together."

Fellow captain, Olivia Wu, added, "The girls played a good game and we enjoyed it. We've played against Seng Kang before and they also did their best in today's game."

When asked if they were able to defend their national championship title this year, both Dinah and Olivia answered with a confident "yes".

In a later match, Anderson Secondary beat North Vista Secondary 27-24 in a tight game between the two teams.

"We're elated," said Kelly Whitmarsh Tay, captain of the Anderson team. "Our opponents fought hard but they might have been feeling stressed out towards the end of the game."

When asked about how she feels to be facing defending champions, Singapore Sports School, in the final, Kelly replied, "It would be tough but we would do our best and that's most important. Furthermore, the team is quite balanced in both defence and offence."

Singapore Sports School will play Anderson Secondary in the zonal final on Thursday, March 11, 2009 at 1400hrs in Yishun Sports Hall.

Ed's note: If you recognise the players in the pictures, just let us know their names in the comments section and we'll update the captions. Thanks.

Go to the SCHOOLS FIXTURES & RESULTS page for more information.

For more photos of the match, go to the GALLERY

Want to nominate YOUR best netball player? Click here!