Our Netball 1st Team had an unbelievable result in Netball, winning the Queensland State Vicki Wilson Cup, in true Spartan style. Qualifying as the top school in the regional playoffs earlier in the year, put the team in the state's top 20 and competitors in the Cup finals.
Heading into the weekend with seven games ahead of us was daunting, knowing our first game up was against St Margaret Mary's College who defeated us by one point to qualify for this year's QISSN Grand Final. Having confidence in our preparation and the hunger to not let history repeat, the team went on to win convincingly 51 to 42. With only an hour break between games it was back on court to play Fairholme, Bridgidine and Mackay Christian colleges, with another three great wins finishing top of our pool.
The quarter final against Mackay State High School was our biggest challenge Sunday morning. Winning the game would put us in the top four and better our position from 2017. We were off to a slow start, making a few uncharacteristic errors and we found we were chasing our tails. We struggled to reduce the margin by three quarter time. The final quarter arrived and we had a deficit of seven to pull back, putting our stress levels at an all time high. A change of game plan coupled with some great defensive team pressure gains and started pulling the score back goal by goal. With only minutes to go, opportunities arose to take the win home but we knew it was not going to be easy. The final buzzer sounded and the scores were locked at 36 all. Overtime! We were forced to play another 10 minute battle to find the winner. Thankfully, fitness, commitment, being smart and giving a lot of heart resulted in an overtime finish in grand style. We won the game 51 to 42. Whew! That was just too close to enjoy!
Without a lot of rest and having to play an additional 10 minutes we were back on court within the hour for the semi final against The Cathedral College. The girls were focused and ready to put the previous game behind them, doing just that with a 36 to 28 winning performance and qualifying for the Grand Final.
It was Helensvale who progressed to the Grand Final after beating last year's Cup winners, Matthew Flinders in the semis. We were in for a big game. Going into the final match, there was a relaxed calmness surrounding the team. Captain Kirsty presented each player with a hand written gift of kindness and then a fun game of knockout to ease the nerves. From the start of the game, we were on a mission to compete with the talented and experienced Helensvale side. Each player had a plan, and to be competitive they needed to stick to it – that’s exactly what they did – for the entire game. We led from start to finish with tight defence and the slickest attack of the tournament. Kasey Collins was on fire shooting in the 90s all tournament. No player could keep up with the speed and flare of Rylee Burns. Katisha Webb and Madizen Wilkins delivered some brilliant feeds to the goalers and our defensive end of Sara Dann, Kirsty Brodbeck, Erin Crough-Heaton and Natalie Blauberg were exceptional, keeping the opposition's state representatives from shining. In an amazing display of Netball, the girls completed an outstanding year by winning the game 38 to 36 and bringing home the State Title and Vicki Wilson Cup. Our first ever State title!
A massive congratulations and utmost respect to the girls!
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