Urban netball titles to be decided today

The queens of Urban Schoolgirl netball will be crowned today as the finals of the ISSA Schoolgirl competition will be played at the Leila Robinson Courts, with Gaynstead's juniors taking on Norman Manley at 3:15 p.m. and Gaynstead's seniors battling St Catherine High at 4:15 p.m.

The winners will advance to Friday's all-island finals.

A year ago, the Dalton Hinds-coached Gaynstead teams came agonisingly close to winning the double but were denied by St Catherine High and Excelsior. However, this time around, the team from Central Avenue will start as favourites to go all the way and create history.

"The girls have worked hard all season, and we are very confident of going all the way this time around. We have an excellent netball programme at Gaynstead," said Hinds.

After losing by one goal to St Catherine in the juniors final last year, Gaynstead, who are in their fourth straight final, having won the title two years ago, have been ruthless all season and were impressive 39-17 winners over former champions St Hugh's in their semi-final encounter. Goal attack Dejaney McIntosh proved hard to contain, and she is again expected to continue that good form today for her team.

Like Gaynstead, Norman Manley have been unbeaten all season but passed their toughest test in flying colours in their semi-final win against the defending champions, St Catherine. Norman Manley recovered from a slow start to score a 37-31 victory over their opponents and will be hoping to maintain their winning form to gain their first-ever netball silverware.

PSYCHOLOGICAL ADVANTAGE

Advancing to their third final in a row, Gaynstead Seniors, who suffered a four-goals loss to Excelsior last year, are bent on making amends this time around. They will be meeting St Catherine for the second time this season after getting by their opponents 33-28 in second-round action two weeks ago, a result that could give them a psychological advantage.

With national senior player goal-defence Latanya Wilson at the helm and with good support expected from national Under-16 representative goal-attack Kelsey Jonas and goal-shooter Britany Logan, they look set to go one place better after a big 43-26 semi-final win over former champions The Queen's School in their last encounter.

Despite that earlier loss, the Phyllis Thompson-coached St Catherine cannot be taken lightly after their surprise win over back-to-back champions Excelsior and will be hoping to take another big scalp today.

"We were not surprised with our win over Excelsior as most of our girls were members from our winning junior team last year, and we are coming for a win, and we are confident of doing so despite losing to them earlier. We have made the necessary adjustments after that defeat," said a confident Thompson.

Goal-attack Felicia Smith, goal-shooter Judene Mattie, and centre Chevelle-Lee Thompson are the key players today for St Catherine.

Today will also see the third-place play-off for both juniors and seniors, starting at 2 p.m., with St Hugh's going up against St Catherine in juniors action and Excelsior battling Queen's in the seniors.