Winning the under 23 Womens National title in Tauranga was arguably more difficult than the Mens in terms of the physical load on the players. The mens competition was divided into two pools of six, therefore teams were faced with five round robin games and two play off games – seven games in total with just a single outing on the final day. No such luxury for the top two womens teams. They were required to play six pool games, a 9am semi final on day four then front up for the final five hours later. The Waikato v Harbour encounter seemed as if it would be a test of endurance as much as skill.
Deena Franklin got the scoreboard ticking with the first points of the final, Chevahn Morris replying in kind for Waikato. A tight first quarter ended with Harbour just ahead 13-10. The score didn’t change in the first 5:20 of the second quarter until Krystal Leger-Walker reduced the arrears for Waikato. Harbour scored just four points in the quarter trailing 20-19 at the half. Waikato forward Dionne Darlington led all scorers with 10 points.
Harbour scored the first 12 points of the second half including an Ella Fotu triple signaled a dominating 22-4 quarter for the notherner’s, Harbour ahead 41-24 with ten minutes remaining. Both teams hit the wall in the final period, rarely troubling the scorers but it was Harbour that prevailed on the back of their dominant third period winning 57-34.
Harbour had a good spread of scorers, Anna lacey, Sian Telfer, Shinae Blair and Franklin all contributing double figure scores, Dionne Darlington-Martin the best for Waikato with 13 points.
LACEY LOWDOWN 