Mt Albert Grammar School win fourth College Netball crown

Mt Albert Grammar School win fourth College Netball crown

Mt Albert Grammar School’s senior players were given the College Netball farewell they wanted after netting their fourth straight crown.

Their two pillars at either end of the court – shooter Maia Wilson and goal keeper Elle Temu – led the way for the defending champions who beat St Kentigern College 43-32 at The Trusts Arena in Auckland on Monday night.

It was a fitting finale for four senior MAGS players – including captain Holly Fowler, Wilson, Cait Dowden and Alanis Toia-Tigafua – who are in their last year with the school side and were desperate to end their College Netball campaign on a high.

Fowler said it was “awesome” to grab the win in convincing style and being dominating on court.

“I’m so happy and I couldn’t be any prouder of them,” she said of her players after the game. “To win convincingly like that in a final is absolutely awesome.”

Fowler said her players stuck to their “own job” and had a “presence” on court which paved the way to victory.
MAGS coach Paula Smith said there was still room for improvement which would have been worrisome words for teams building towards the NZ Secondary School Championships at the end of the year.

St Kentigern coach Nicola Lewis was pleased her charges worked hard until the final whistles.

“That was one of our main targets was to never give up and keep going until the end,” she said. “There’s lot of things that we have improved on but there’s lots of things that we need to improve on.

“It’s nice to play (MAGS) this early in the season and gives us things we need to work on in the rest of our domestic competition.”

St Kentigern captain Amorangi Malesala said they had learned a lot in their first ever College Netball Grand Final.

“Although we didn’t win, it’s still early days and we just need to keep our heads up and keep going on.”

Shutting down MAGS shooter Wilson proved the big undoing for St Kentigern as they struggled to keep the ball out of the hands of the dominant goal scorer.

MAGS were however forced to make an early change when centre Ala Latimer-Toetu’u left the court injured and was replaced by Shaniah Morehu-Hunia in the mid-court.

It did little to stem the quick flow of ball into MAGS’ shooting circle as the defending champions went into the first break with a 12-8 lead.

MAGS absorbed the early pressure from St Kentigern and extended their lead to 23-15 at halftime as they started to stamp their authority on the match.

St Kentigern did enough on attack to challenge MAGS but were unable to turn over enough ball on defence and keep the ball away from Wilson.

The defensive combination of Kristina Tipene and Georgia Ropati opted to both mark Wilson which only opened the door for Toia-Tigafua who was comfortable in putting up shots at range.

At the other end of the court Temu, who was named player of the match, and Fowler were made to work hard against the St Kentigern duo of Amorangi Malesala and Sydney Fraser who were both in fine form. MAGS wing defence Cait Dowden also had a tough tussle with St Kentigern wing attack Mererangi Paul who had a strong link with Malesala.

Coach Nicola Lewis made one change heading into the third quarter with Viona Silao replacing Ropati at goal defence in a bid to help halt the quick ball being delivered to Wilson.

But the goals kept coming for MAGS as they opened up a 10-goal buffer mid-way through the third spell on the back of a strong defensive effort and quick transition onto attack.

Result: MAGS 43 (Maia Wilson 38/40, Alanis Toia-Tigafua 5/10) beat St Kentigern College 32 (Amorangi Malesala 24/26, Sydney Fraser 8/12). Quarter scores: 12-8, 23-15, 31-23, 43-32.

MAGS, starting seven: Maia Wilson GS, Alanis Toia-Tigafua GA, Lahaina-Lee Upu-Toparea WA, Ala Latimer-Toetu’u C, Cait Dowden WD, Holly Fowler (captain) GD, Elle Temu GK. Shaniah Morehu-Hunia, Crystal-Maine Maro, Armani Lam, Sharne Pupuke-Robati, Abigail Roache. Coach: Paula Smith.

St Kentigern College, starting seven: Amorangi Malesala (captain) GS, Sydney Fraser GA, Mererangi Paul WA, Christina Oscar C, Madison Morete WD, Georgia Ropati GD, Kristina Tipene GK. Victoria Kolose, Lauren Pickett, Malia Pusiaski, Viona Silao. Coach: Nicola Lewis.

ENDS

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