Potchefstroom - Johannesburg were crowned South African netball champions for the first-time courtesy of a 24-23 victory over their neighbours Tshwane at the Spar Women’s National Netball Championships on Saturday morning.
In a thrilling encounter, Elsje Jordaan’s team were in charge from the onset courtesy of the shooting prowess of Proteas player Nomfundo Mngomezulu.
The goal shooter from Richards Bay was in her element in the first quarter, while her opposite number Inke Viser’s shooting was seriously misaligned as she fluffed her attempts.
Johannesburg led 6-4 at the end of the first quarter, but some tactical changes by Tshwane’s Jenny Van Dyk seemed to work as they raced to a 3-0 lead in the second quarter. But it just was Johannesburg’s day as they turned things around in the last stage of the quarter to go into halftime enjoying a 14-10 lead.
But sport is fickle at the top and when Jordaan replaced Mngomezulu during the third quarter, she seemed to have given the game to her opponents.
Tshwane looked like the team that had gone through the whole week unbeaten as they played with precision and scored freely to win the third quarter 6-3. They were still trailing by a goal though (16-17) and needed a massive last quarter to steal it.
With the crowd on their feet and singing, the teams engaged in a see-saw battle that saw the lead exchanging hands briefly until Johannesburg edged ahead.
And when they held on to possession and exchanged passes to play out for time, it was clear that Tshwane’s dream of emulating their Under-21s who won their section earlier on via a 38-27 victory over host Dr Kenneth Kaunda were not going to materialise.
Johannesburg captain Boitumelo Mahloko cried tears of joy as she gave her teammates congratulatory hugs.
“This is what we came here for,” she said “We really wanted this. They beat us during the week, and we knew it would be tough. But we came into this match with such great energy I knew we would win. And to finally become champions means so much for us.”
Her opposite number Tshwane captain Lungile Mthembu was magnanimous in defeat: “It’s very rare for a team to win the championships unbeaten, but we gave it a short. We knew they had nothing to lose and that it would be tough opposition, but we fought until the end.”
IOL Sport