Tara Murray
Riddell had to dig deep to win its spot in the Riddell District Netball League grand final this Sunday.
The Bombers, who finished on top, were staring at a straight set exit from the final series during its preliminary final against Macedon on Saturday.
Eight goals down, the Bombers had to make some changes to try and work themselves back into the game.
They were still five goals down heading into the final quarter.
They were able to level the scores in the final quarter and had a shot to win the game.
When that missed, the game went into extra time and the Bombers were able to get across the line eventually, 55-49.
Bombers coach Beck Anstey was a relieved coach after the game. She said they should have won the game in extra time, but were glad to get the result in the end.
“We only levelled the scores in the last couple minutes of the game and didn’t lead until in overtime,” she said.
“We didn’t have Tepaea [Hobson] who is training with the Australian under-21 team. We didn’t have her so we had two shorter players in defence and they were up against Hetty [Donoghue].
“Amy [Starzer] was shooting well, but we made the call we needed Amy to come into goal keeper.
“She changed the game and we got a couple of turnovers and we started chasing the game down.”
Shelby Holter shot 27 goals for the Bombers, while Starzer finishing with 15 and Ellen Close 13.
Ruby Shannon was named their best.
For the Cats, Donoghue finished with 33 goals, while Chloe Williams scored 14 goals.
Defenders Janelle Birch and Katie Clarke were named their best.
The match was the final game for Cats coach Ciara Stewart with the club having already made the call to head in a different direction.
It was a big day for the Bombers with all four of their netball sides in preliminary final action,
Their B-grade and under-19 teams also won through to the grand final on Sunday.
“To have three out of four teams still alive isn’t bad at this time of the year,” Anstey said.
“We had a couple of teams in finals last year and the A-grade side went the furthest, knocked out in the second week when Diggers Rest smashed us.
“To have four sides going this deep, the club is doing something right.”
The Bombers will face Woodend-Hesket in the grand final on Sunday, with the Hawks having the week off after beating the Bombers in the semi finals.
Anstey said they were expecting a tough match up.
“Woodend had all the momentum,” she said. “It was just our second loss for the season and we’ve had players in and out of the side.
“They were a lot better than us. There’s things we have to get better at and we learned a lot about playing our roles.
“We’ll go back to basics and hopefully get the job done.”
