Cape Town and Johannesburg safely booked their semifinal spots at the SPAR National Netball Championships in Boksburg, Ekhuruleni on Thursday, while four teams are still vying for the remaining two places.
Those positions will be filled when the rain-postponed matches between Mangaung and eThekwini, and the Dr Kenneth Kaunda side and Nelson Mandela Bay will be contested early on Friday morning, with the semis scheduled for later in the day.
Cape Town wrapped up their flawless round-robin campaign with two more victories on Thursday – first a 49-34 win over Tshwane before a nail-biting 54-51 win over Mangaung.
The Free State side had led for much of the match, reaching the first break 16-10 up and then half-time 29-22 ahead. They kept the pressure on to head into the final break 42-36 up before Cape Town turned the tables in the last quarter, scoring 18 goals to Mangaung’s nine to clinch the three-goal win.
“They are one of the best teams in the country so we knew it was going to be competitive, but they came out with a bang and we had to dig deeper there at the end,” said a relieved Cape Town captain, Sian Moore, afterwards.
“You need games like that… We’ve really been tested in terms of mind, body and attitude, so I think this was great for us because it also showed us again that we can dig deep and regardless of what situation we find ourselves in tomorrow, we have come out on top of it in our journey up until now.”
Cape Town coach Freda Kemp explained afterwards that with her side already having advanced to the semis before the match, she could test out new combinations and a moving circle.
“It gave me the privilege to do that and see if there’s something else I can pull out of the bag if needed,” she said.
Johannesburg booked their spot in the final four with a 51-46 win over the team from the North West, Dr Kenneth Kaunda, in the morning before going on the beat Tshwane 44-40 later in the day.
While they were pushed all the way by the Dr Kenneth Kaunda side, the three-time defending champions’ shooters kept their cool with a 91 per cent shooting average.
“Our shooters have been great throughout the year,” said Johannesburg coach and former SPAR Proteas captain Elsjé Jordaan afterwards. “We’ve been working really hard on our shooting… they’ve been really good for us.
“It was very intense. We knew that we had to win one of the two today, and I didn’t want to go into the last game of the day having that as a must-win. So, by winning the one this morning, we relieved a lot of pressure.”
The four teams still fighting for semifinal places are Mangaung, Dr Kenneth Kaunda, eThekwini and Tshwane.
Before their frustrating loss to Cape Town, Mangaung kept themselves in the mix with a 70-40 win over Cape Winelands.
Speaking after the match, captain Reratilwe Letsoalo said: “We had to redeem ourselves [after losing to Tshwane on Wednesday]. But as much as yesterday we had some trouble, we also had some good moments. So, we told ourselves that going into this game, we wanted to use this game to fix our errors, and also set the momentum that we want to carry through the rest of the tournament.
“It will be an honour to get the opportunity to play a semi and a final. We’re just taking it game by game, and we know our hard work will yield the results that we need,” added Letsoalo.
The Kenneth Kaunda side kept alive their semifinal hopes with a 61-34 win over Cape Winelands while eThekwini did the same by beating Nelson Mandela Bay 49-46.
Meanwhile, round-robin play in the under-21 A section wrapped up on Thursday, with the semifinal match-ups now confirmed. Defending champions Johannesburg, who extended their unbeaten run with a 50-29 victory over Cape Town on Thursday, will take on 2023 champions Tshwane before the Dr Kenneth Kaunda side come up against Cape Town.
Results
Senior A section
Cape Town 49 – 34 Tshwane
Cape Winelands 40 – 70 Mangaung
Johannesburg 51 – 46 Dr Kenneth Kaunda
Nelson Mandela Bay 46 – 49 eThekwini
Mangaung 51 – 54 Cape Town
Dr Kenneth Kaunda 61 – 34 Cape Winelands
Tshwane 40 – 44 Johannesburg
Under-21 A section
Tshwane 31 – 39 Dr Kenneth Kaunda
Cape Town 29 – 50 Johannesburg
Ekurhuleni 55 – 29 eThekwini
Picture Credit: Reg Caldecott
