A group of nine girls from Boorowa Central School travelled to Dubbo last Thursday to play in the semi finals of the PSSA netball knockout competition.
The team has been training solidly for months as they are preparing to compete at the State Age Championships in Newcastle in early July.
This training and attendance at numerous weekend carnivals put the girls in good stead for this school knockout competition. The knockout competition saw 53 teams entered from the Western Region. The girls won their first game convincingly against Cowra Public at Cowra 34-4. They advanced to the next round of competitions that were played at Dubbo on July 10. They played Mulyan, Wyalong and then finally the last round for the day was against Condoblin they again came up on top with a huge score of 33-3. These fabulous wins placed the girls in the top 4 teams in the Western Region, which meant they had to travel back to Dubbo a week later and play the semi final. They never envisaged that they would advance so far in the competition and were thrilled to bits.
They got off to a very slow start in the game and were down 9-1 in the first five minutes against a strong Dubbo South team. They gathered some momentum and managed to close this gap to 10-5 at the end of the first quarter. During the second quarter they took the court firing. They recovered the 5 goals they were down and maintained the same amount of goals that Dubbo scored to make it 14 all by half time. The game continued to be hard work as goals were scored goal for goal. Boorowa Central maintained excellent play and were 2 goals up at three quarter time. In the final quarter, the girls played well and were ahead by 3 goals in the final 3 minutes. It was an absolute nail biter and in the dying 2 minutes of the game Dubbo South pulled something out of the bag to finish 2 goals ahead as the hooter sounded. The team was disappointed that they were so close but also very proud to know that they are placed 3rd out of 53 in the Region. Dubbo South played Orange in the grand final game which was also a nail biter with Orange coming up trumps by just one goal. All three teams were fabulous and very even in competitiveness.
During the game Western Region selectors asked for four Boorowa Central girls to stay and try out in the possibles versus probables selection for the Western Region team to compete at the State Championships in Camden next month.
It was a very gruelling process for Tiarna Allison, Molly Stephens, Olivia Gay and Sophie Cooper.
Amazingly, Molly, Olivia and Sophie were selected to join the team of 10 girls who will represent Western Region next month.
This is a mighty fine effort to have the three girls from approximately 500 players across the competition chosen.
All parents and coaches, Angela Gay and Trudy Mahoney, are extremely proud of all the girls’ achievements.
They played as a champion team and will never forget this wonderful memory.
The Boorowa Central team comprises of Taylah Cutting, Tiarna Allison, Tammie Pye, Meg McIntosh, Jade Blomfield, Molly Stephens, Olivia Gay, Sophie Cooper and Maddie Edwards.
The Western Area team players are: Sophie Cooper (Boorowa Central), Abbie Merritt (Dubbo South), Alana Ryan (Mulyan), Synetta Manns (Orange), Chelsea Amore (Orange Public), Abby Hopkins (West Wylong), Molly Stephens (Boorowa Central), Claudia Kerr (Dubbo South), Olivia Gay (Boorowa Central), Katie Ryan
(Calare).