Photo: Tivoli Gardens celebrate with the JN Bank Open League Netball trophy after defeating Arnett Gardens 33-30 in the final at the Leila Robinson Courts on Saturday.
Tivoli Gardens outlasted first time finalists Arnett Gardens 33-30 in the final of the JN Bank Open League Netball Finals which was played at the Leila Robinson Courts on Saturday. It was the first ever netball West Kingston derby.
The game which was played in front of a large and appreciative crowd saw Tivoli, who was led by Shedeiky Hamilton-Barnes and Jodi-Ann Ffrench-Kentish, take the early lead before they were pegged back by the efforts of Sabrina Spence and Melesha Joseph as the first quarter ended 10-9 in favour of Tivoli Gardens.
The experienced Tivoli team stepped up their game in the second quarter as Ffrench-Kentish exerted herself on the game at the same time that Spence developed a case of slippery fingers for Arnett Gardens. Tivoli doubled up their opponents 12-6 in the second quarter to take a 22-15 lead at the half time break.
The third quarter saw Tivoli come off the boil as they made a series of errors that led to a number of turnovers. Arnett was unable to take full advantage of the wayward play of their opponents and failed to cut into the lead. Tivoli scored 7 to Arnett’s 6 in the quarter as the scores read Tivoli 29-21 Arnett at the end of three quarters.
Trailing by eight goals in their first final with just one quarter left to play, it appeared that Arnett was already dead and buried. They would somehow stage a late game rally in the fourth quarter as they gave it all they had. They outscored their opponents 9 goals to 1 to draw the game level at 30 all but ran out of gas and time right at the end as Tivoli were able to keep their composure and score the last three goals of the game to close out the contest and the season with a victory.
In other games played ahead of the final, Determined “A” got the better of GC Foster Lions “B” in the consolation final, while Jamalco N.C. defeated the UWI Pelicans in the third place match.
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