Carolyn Johnson, Freelance Writer

Rural champions Holmwood and Denbigh are all-Island champions of the 2006 ISSA/Digicel schoolgirl competition. Holmwood retained their title after beating Dunoon 31-24 in the senior match, while Denbigh shot past Queen's 24-11 to claim the junior title.

The rural teams obviously decided that they did not come to town to lose and were ready to prove that 'country' schools were good. Denbigh took the lead early and were ahead 10-4 by half time.

Accurate shooting from Gillene Graham who made 23 from 29, plus Cameka McGowan's one from three attempts led Denbigh to the trophy.

The school's win was cemented by good passes, quick rebounds and capitalising on Queen's turnovers.

On the other hand Queen's seemed to have lost the drive to win from the interval and stopped hustling for the ball. Their scoring was done by Kimberly Manning, goalshoot, who contributed six from nine, while teammate Shantele Shirley made five out of 11 attempts.

"I'm elated. It has been a few years since we have won the urban title so I'm happy for the team. I think the occasion at first took its toll on both teams, but we settled down faster and that's why they pulled ahead," a delighted Annett Daley, coach of Denbigh said after the match.

Queen's coach Marvette Anderson was on the other end of the spectrum.

"[I'm] disappointed not because ... we lost, but it's how we lost. We did not stick to the game plan, made a lot of turnovers and that was what cost us the game. It was a good game in parts. It became one-sided after a while because we moved away from the game plan. I think they didn't fight hard enough," she said.

SENIOR MATCH

In the senior match, Dunoon made a formidable opponent for Holmwood but the team lacked composure to make it to the end. Although they trailed 15-12 at half time, they lost their drive in the third quarter when members began arguing and stopped marking. They tried to come back in the last quarter but it was already over.

Holmwood never lost sight of the trophy with Samantha Martin making 30 goals from 41 attempts and Jodi-Ann Buckle making one from three.

Dunoon's Crystal Gordon had an excellent shooting record getting 23 from 24 while her teammate Jody-Ann Foreman netted one from five.

"It's a very good feeling. As we said, we knew what Dunoon had. We knew from early we had the better team, so we just had to keep our composure. Dunoon have very good players, but our girls have been champions, and there was no way we were going to lie down. If Dunoon wanted it they would have had to put up a better fight," Holmwood's coach Carline Graham said.

"It's hard to beat a defending champion. Holmwood were champions last year, they played well, they won. Dunoon played well in spurts, they weren't consistent," coach of Dunoon, C. Lloyd Walker, said.