Maple Persevere

Maple Netball Club have all but taken the 2007 First Division title of the Cable & Wireless National Netball Club Tournament.

In the match that basically determined the title, Maple came up trumps last Monday evening at the Kingstown Netball Centre when they beat arch rivals Mitres.{{more}}

But the pre-match build up which normally accompanies this fixture was evidently absent. Even the vocal spectators who like mascots rooted for both teams in the past were nowhere to be found.

Revenging double defeats last year, Maple, one month short of celebrating 56 years as a club, looked a determined bunch and sped to a 13-9 lead at the end of the first quarter. They held on to a 26-24 ascendancy at half time, against a star studded Mitres outfit that included Dellarice Duncan, Halimah De Shong , Marcia Gordon, Nicole Sandy, Juliette Cumberbatch, Jacintha Adams, Jasmine Frank, Nicolette King and Genella Andrews, all of whom have represented St. Vincent and the Grenadines at some level in the past. But on this occasion, they looked lethargic and uninspired.

Mitres, the 2006 league and knock-out champion were unable to contain Saska Diamond, Maple’s centre court dynamo and with experienced shooters Skiddy Francis- Crick and Thelma Foster in the circle, Maple were always in the reckoning.

Mitres though, levelled the scores at 26 early in third quarter; however Maple finished that quarter with a slim one goal advantage 34-33. The scores were kept in check in the last quarter with neither team taking any sizeable lead. In fact the scores went from 34-34 to 39-39, before Maple had three unanswered points. A steal by veteran Wing Defence Elizabeth Matthews of Maple in the 12th minute proved to be crucial as her team never looked back. From there on, Maple stretched the dominance even putting on a show of “freezing” the ball with seconds on the clock. Maple finally won 48-42.

A highly charged Francis -Crick exhibiting the potency that distinguished her as one of the Caribbean finest shooters in the 1990’s, shot 38 from her 41 attempts, with Foster making it 10 from her 11 shots.

Frank scored 37 of her 49 attempts, while Duncan who assumed a different role of Goal Attack made 5 out of her 10 attempts count. They had to contend with some tight marking from Maple’s Goalkeeper Vasha Adams.

But despite, at times a bruising battle, at the sound of the final whistle of umpires Michelle Guy and Anthony Jack, both teams carried out the customary bounding of hands in exchange of pleasantries around the centre circle. Maple huddled for a while off the court then carried on a spontaneous celebration, knowing that they are in line for the top prize that they last tasted in 2004. Mitres walked off to the substitutes’ bench to be consoled by their coach Julian Bailey.

With the league competitions of all four divisions on the home stretch, the next focus of the teams will be on the knock-out segment.