Waulgrovians rule again

­Rudolph Brown

Waulgrovians captain and goal shooter Connie Francis (centre) gives her teammates a pep talk in a time-out during yesterday's Berger Paints Senior Netball League final at the Leila Robinson Courts. Waulgrovians beat Jamalco 58-49 to retain their title.

DEFENDING champions Waulgrovians took charge from the second quarter to defeat Jamalco 58-49 in the Berger Paints Senior Netball League final at the Leila Robinson Courts yesterday.

It was a repeat of the Open League and Mid-Season play-offs where Jamalco were also vanquished to the runners-up role.

"A bench talk did it from the second quarter," said Waulgrovians coach Patrick Brisset. "We made our adjustments wisely. I thought it was a good match and I think it would be unfair to single out any area in which we did not play well," he said.

Goal shooter and captain Connie Francis was on target all game as she netted 37 goals from 39 attempts and goal attack Simone Forbes backed her up well with 21 from 26.

The scorers for Jamalco were goal shooter Elfreda Reid with 26 from 35 and goal attack and league Most Accurate Shooter Georgina Hibbert with 23 from 25.

After a tight first quarter which ended with the score locked at 12-12, Waulgrovians assumed control in the second stanza and took a 31-23 lead into the halftime break.

The third quarter was all in the hands of the purples, as they went on a scoring spree and led 46-34 at the final break. Though Jamalco tried to make some ground in the last quarter, they were unable to stop the accurate shooting of Francis and Forbes.

Assistant coach of Jamalco Martin Heron blamed the three-month suspension of head coach Winston Nevers for the loss.

"I think the suspension from the JNA affected the girls," Heron said. "I think we played a good first quarter but fell in the remaining periods because of lost of composure," he said.

Omega won the third-place play-off 38-35 against Jetsetters.

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