Theeir leaps?might have been limited and their sprints were done gingerly.
But, with unfading shooting skills from under the net as well as accurate long-range shots, Brydens edged St Barnabas 21-20 as the Seniors Netball Championship climaxed on Thursday night.
Brydens’ victory at the Netball Stadium denied St Barnabas a third straight championship win in year three of the competition.
With a touch of irony, the seniors played the “fast net” version of the game, which allowed the much needed rolling subs and, similar to basketball, centre pass was given to the team conceding the previous goal. The highlight was the power play which could be used in one quarter and which allowed two goals from a score in the “D” and four goals with a long-range bomb from outside the “D”.
St Barnabas seemed destined to take the title for the third consecutive year with quarter leads of 5-4, 14-11 and 19-14, with former national player Margaret Cutting relaxing on the bench, awaiting the final quarter.
However, both teams opted to use the power play in the final quarter. Cutting did not join the fray and with Andrea Puckerin getting the better of goalkeeper Denise Alleyne, Brydens repeated their preliminary win over St Barnabas.
With seconds left on the clock, St Barnabas led 20-19 but missed two shots and turned over the ball, which went down court for Puckerin to beat Alleyne and sink with aplomb as the time expired, to give Brydens the crown by one goal.
Earlier, Brydens had melted BICO Golden Delight in one semi-final 27-24. Cutting hit four long-range bombs in the fourth-quarter power play to rack up 16 goals in the dying minutes for St Barnabas to score a come-from-behind win over UAC, 33-22, in another semi-final.
The shooting of the remarkably accurate Janita Austin looked like it would carry UAC to the finals before the Cutting show.
UAC also stumbled in the match-up for third place, going down to Golden Delight 20-22. Flash Back was the other team which took part in the competition. (KB)
