In the end, the final was irrelevant as Garrison Secondary were declared the champions of the 2010 Barbados Secondary Schools’ Netball League Under-19 Rally.
Late Tuesday evening at the Netball Stadium, Garrison played to a 7-7 draw against The Lodge School in the championship match. The handful of fans who stayed around were anticipating extra time, but organisers declared Garrison the winners with a superior goal average of 1.42 to Lodge’s 1.36 based on the play-off results.
It was an evenly contested game, as reflected in the score. Lodge were able to draw on the likes of former Barbados Under-16 players Shanice Rock and Rieah Holder as well as Marissa Burgess, while Garrison have present Under-16 players Shannon Hackett and Tyneisha Rowe as well as Nikita President and Makaela Rudder.
Ironically, Garrison, who looked like one of the favourites to dethrone 11-time champions Springer Memorial, could have won the match in regulation time. Hackett missed the very last shot attempt before time was called, but it did not come back to haunt them.
Garrison, Lodge and Alleyne advanced to the play-offs after emerging top of their respective zones. In the first match, Lodge took a 3-1 lead and went on to win 8-4 against Alleyne.
However, it was Alleyne that made the quick start against Garrison in the second play-off. But Garrison, runners-up in last year’s competition, are a well-drilled unit with depth off the bench, and they came back to tie the game 4-4 before running away with the 13-7 victory to meet Lodge for the decider.
Matches begin at the various schools today at 3:30 p.m. (SAT)
Results
Zone 1
Springer Memorial 4, Alleyne 4
St Lucy 7, St George 6
St George 7, Springer Memorial 4
Alleyne 3, St Lucy 3
Springer Memorial 3, St Lucy 3
Alleyne 7, St George 3
Zone 2
Garrison 13, Ellerslie 3
Combermere 3, Lester Vaughan 2
Garrison 6, Combermere 1
Lester Vaughan 6, Ellerslie 5
Garrison 11, Lester Vaughan 6
Combermere 9, Ellerslie 2
Zone 3
Foundation 9, Princess Margaret 0
The Lodge School 4, Queen’s College 2
Lodge School 15, Princess Margaret 1
Lodge School 7, Foundation 7
Queen’s College 7, Princess Margaret 3
Foundation 4, Queen’s College 3
Play-offs
Lodge School 8, Alleyne 4
Garrison 13, Alleyne 7
Final: Lodge 7, Garrison 7
