It was grand final heartache for Sunbury Lions’ A-grade side in the Ballarat Netball League on Saturday.
In what was always going to be a tough task to roll unbeaten North Ballarat City, the Lions were left to rue a poor third quarter which ended their premiership dreams.
The 15-8 term gave City a six-goal lead at three-quarter time to set up the 49-42 win.
It was a second successive grand final loss for the Lions, but they didn’t give up Saturday’s clash without a fight. They got the margin back to four goals in the last quarter but could get no closer.
The Lions even led by a goal at half time and Lions coach Adam Boldiston said he thought his side was in good shape at that point.
Then it all started to go wrong.
“The girls tried really hard and never gave up,” he said.
“It just wasn’t our day. We had a lot of basic errors which we didn’t have in the last couple of finals.
“You can’t afford to do that against a quality side like North Ballarat.”
It was those errors in the third quarter that proved costly.
“Ruth Smith was doing a lot of work but was missing her goals,” he said.
“Kate Fletcher came on really well last week, but today she was off her game a bit.
“They say the third quarter is the championship quarter and it kind of proved to be that way today.”
As he did earlier in the finals series, Boldiston threw his line around in the last quarter. “I was searching for answers,” he said.
“Normally we’re really secure bringing the ball down the court and Chloe [Curran] normally finishes it off well, She was a bit nervy today.
“We tried Abbey Healy [at goal attack]. I thought I had to try something as Ruth didn’t shoot well for us.
“The change was working and we pegged a couple back, but then it started to fall away again so I had to change it back.”
Defenders Jamie Clark and Rebecca Anstey were best for the Lions.
Despite the grand final loss, Boldiston said there was a lot to look forward to with his squad.
“As long as we can keep the core of the squad together we’re in a good place to build next year,” he said.
“We have some good connections and we’ll look at what we need to add to the squad. I’d like to add a goal attack.
But it wasn’t all bad news for the Lions, with the A-reserve side defeating Lake Wendouree 44-27 to secure back-to-back premierships and an unbeaten season.
The C-grade side lost 29-19 to North Ballarat City in their grand final after winning the minor premiership.
