GAWLER Central advanced to the Barossa, Light & Gawler senior one netball preliminary final by coming from behind to defeat rival South Gawler by four goals in Saturday’s first semi-final.
The Tigers, who were fresh off a bye from the last minor round, looked sluggish early and found themselves down by four goals at quarter-time.
However, Reece Turtur’s side soon clicked into gear, and turned the deficit into a two-goal lead at half-time.
The game was a heart stopper, but also a bit of a scrap, as the Lions clawed the difference back to one goal at three-quarter-time.
Despite South staying in the contest, the Tigers stormed away in the final quarter, scoring 15 goals to 12 to seal the win.
Post-match, Turtur said it was a “tight” affair, but he was pleased to get the win.
“South got off to a great start, it took us some time to get into the match…I’m not sure what contributed to that if it was the bye or nerves,” he said.
“Credit to the girls, they weathered the storm and worked their way out of it.”
Turtur, while mentioning a few standout players, said it was a full team effort.
“To be honest, it took all seven of the girls on court to get the job done,” he said.
“It’s something we’ve prided ourselves on in the second half of the season, playing that united style of game and not having superheroes on court.
“I give special mention to Ali Schahinger, she had an outstanding leadership game; she rallied the girls in the last quarter, in particular, to get them over the line.
“Credit to Bec Rowe who went into goalkeeper from the second quarter onwards, she was a solid performer and contributed to us being able to get some crucial turnover ball.
“She’s not familiar with the position as much as she is with wing defence and goal defence.”
The Tigers mentor said he urged his girls to step up at three-quarter-time with the game in the balance.
“It was just about reiterating the fact we have a solid game plan, and when we execute that and do it well (we are tough to beat),” he said.
“We knew we had some extra in the tank, the girls just had to have faith in themselves, and it wasn’t the prettiest of the games.
“We had to combat that, and the girls had to step up when it mattered.
“It was 15 more minutes of net- ball…whether it was the last 15 was up to them.”
The Tigers now have a week off before facing the loser of this Saturday’s Barossa District versus Kapunda clash in the second semi-final, and Turtur is eager to see how his girls go with another week off.
“It’s interesting, we’ve come off a week off and now we’ll have another one before we go into the prelim,” he said.
“We’ll find a fine line between resting ourselves, it was a hard-fought game.
“We also have to step it up a notch to get ourselves ready for the prelim.”