Uranquinty capped off a magnificent season by capturing their first Wagga A grade netball premiership in six years on Sunday.
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Uranquinty proved too good for seasoned finals specialists New Kids Aces 56-47 in an entertaining grand final at Wagga Netball Centre.
The win capped off a big 24 hours for six of Uranquinty’s eight players who took out the Riverina League A grade grand final with Wagga Tigers on Saturday.
It also gave those six the big three for the year after winning the Wednesday night Challenge Cup as well.
Uranquinty, who had been the benchmark all season, broke the game open with a brilliant second quarter that set them up for victory.
Up by two at quarter-time, Uranquinty piled on 22 goals to eight in the second term to set up a match-winning 16-goal lead at the main break.
New Kids Aces made some positional changes at half-time and it had an immediate effect as they snared the first four goals of the third quarter.
Aces tried hard and closed the gap to six goals early in the last quarter but Uranquinty had too many answers.
It capped off a big day for Uranquinty, who also won the A Reserve premiership, and provided coach Rosemary Clarke with the perfect birthday present.
“It was nailbiting. I’ve been through two, A Reserve and A Grade, both nailbiting but two really good wins,” Clarke said.
“It’s first (A grade) one in a while. We’ve played in the last few but it’s the first one in a while.”
Clarke paid tribute to a New Kids Aces team that Uranquinty were finally able to get over in a grand final.
“We’ve played them so many times so it’s nice to get one back over them. It’s really good,” she said.
“Rachael (Addison) doesn’t change, she’s a beautiful player and she makes such a difference to that team. They all stand up when she’s playing. She plays really good grand final netball she’s just amazing. She lifts when she has to.”
Clarke also paid tribute to the six ladies – Olivia Tilyard, Georgia Tilyard, Lana Duffy, Tilly Vearing, Meg Reinhold and Grace Cornell – who backed up from a Tigers premiership on Saturday.
“It’s massive, and to think some of them also won Challenge Cup. So some of these girls have won three. It’s great,” she said.
Lana Duffy was named best on court for the second time in 24 hours. She shot superbly and formed a formidable combination with Hannah Finemore, with both nailing 28 goals each.
Olivia Tilyard led from the front in the centre of the court, before moving to goal keeper, while Tilly Vearing also played a strong game.
Cloe Hildebrand led Aces’ comeback with a strong display and she finished with 35 of their 47 goals.
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