Otago Southland Secondary Schools tournament was a great success for our Senior A Netball team with just one loss by one goal!

Our Senior A Netball team travelled to Invercargill to participate in the Otago Southland Secondary Schools tournament on Saturday 29th August.  We were very fortunate to have Netball South provide this tournament following the cancellation of our annual South Island Secondary Schools and Otago Secondary Schools tournaments.

OSSS consisted of two Pools with seven teams in each. On Day 1 we had a tough three games.  First we faced James Hargest and managed a good 32-23 win in a very physical match.  Game Two we played against St Peter's from Gore and won 42-22.  It was great for both Neve Graamans and Holly McRae to debut in this game.  Our final game for day one was against Wakatipu High School who had also won their previous game.  We finished well with a 37-29 win, completing a clean-sweep for the day.

On day two we had a very much appreciated sleep-in before what was going to be our toughest match against Southland Girls.  Southland Girls had just won their local Premier A competition and were like us, determined to take out the top position in our Pool.  It was a very well contested game with each of our players giving their all out on court.  Unfortunately we lost this by the narrowest of margins, 27-28.  With tired bodies and brains, we picked ourselves up to play a dogged Dunstan High School team.  They made few mistakes and proved hard to get ball off.  Fortunately, we were able to dig deep and take the win 38-32. 

Our last Pool match was against St Kevin's College.  We had a convincing win, 37-25 to secure second place in our Pool.  This determined our finals match against Central Southland College who also finished second in their Pool.  This was a full 40 minute match that we eventually won 28-24 resulting in our overall third placing.

A special mention must go to Harriett Cuttance who performed exceptionally well throughout the tournament.  Her long range shooting and determination did not falter.  Madi Loudon and Riley Piebenga were also selected as Talented Players by the tournament selectors.

We are very appreciative of the hours of tireless work done by our Manager Kaye Sycamore who never ceases to amaze us with her organisation and generosity.  

We look forward to the last three games of local competition to finish off our seasons.  We hope to farewell our five Year 13 players Harriett Cuttance, Jess Cowie, Jess Ecroyd, Olivia Fowler and Lucy Goodeve, in style by pushing hard to make the Premier B finals.