TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 16 2014 NETBALL 15

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Parai credits Federalfor hard-fought gameA dominant centre courtpaved the way for RoversScope to win a fifth consecu-tive Club Eastside AliceSprings Netball Association A-grade premiership onSaturday.

Lauren Parai, who won theBest on Court trophy, was adriving force as Michelle Ellistook full advantage of her op-portunities to shoot Rovers toa 46-38 victory.

“Anyone on my team couldhave won this,” she said of theaward presented after thegame.

“The game was a good con-test, pretty physical and wentfast – how I expected it wouldbe.

“Crystal (Dixon, Parai’s di-rect opponent as the Federalcentre) is a competitive andphysical player – but I like thatas it makes me try harder.

“Netball is not my main

sport, but I like playing and thegirls so I will be back next year.

“Murph (coach LeanneSoutham) has taught me howto play the game.’’

Rovers dominated from theopening as Carlie McInnescaused three turnovers in theFederal attacking circle to setthe team up to score threegoals before Federal had a shotat the five-minute mark.

The game looked as if it wasgoing to be over before it reallybegan at Rovers raced out to8-2 lead, with Ellis sinking aperfect seven goals from sevenshots, before Gabi Borcherssunk the final two baskets ofthe term to give Federal hope.

Federal lifted in the secondterm and with better ball toDody Stephens, coupled withsome indifferent shootingfrom Ellis (who had four of hersix misses for the game in thesecond term) and AimeeRodda, took the lead 12 min-utes into the term.

Rovers’ hearts were in theirmouths when Rodda wentdown and needed courtsidetreatment from the buffetingshe was taking on court.

But she continued and Rov-ers scored four of the next sixgoals to take a slender lead16-15 into the half time break.

Then Rovers exploded inthe third quarter scoring 16goals at almost 90 per cent toall but have their hands on afifth consecutive premiership.

Rodda joined Ellis in thegoal scoring as Parai andShannan King kept feeding theball in with such skill that therewas little Team of Year defend-ers Thlia Lee and KatelynHenwood, despite beingamong Federal’s best playersfor the game, could do to stopthe flow of goals.

Rovers defence from thecentre court to the circle madelife difficult for Federal andthen they created more oppor-tunities so the team finished

having 14 more shots to nettheir winning score.

Rodda sunk the shot of theday from the edge of the attackcircle but time was called whileit was in the air so it did notcount – but that did not stopthe celebration which beganfor the goal and then contin-ued as the players swampedtheir captain in victory.

“I have dreamt of that shotfor the 12 years I have playedA-grade,” Rodda said.

“It was hard game, Fedskept competing right to thefinal whistle. We knew it wouldbe tough.

“A grand final is completelydifferent ball game to anyother game in the season.

“Our plan was to run theminto the ground and I amproud that we did.

“Our fitness showed and forthis we love and hate Budgie(Philip Preece) who hasworked us so hard but thismakes it all worthwhile.”

Rovers also won the A-re-serve and the B-grade premier-ships with T-Rex and ROTsrespectively.

It was a first title for T-Rex with 12 goals to six in thesecond term to establish awinning lead at half-time,while the seemingly agelessROTs scored 21-11 in the sec-ond half to return to premier-ship holder after beingdefeated in the 2013 by a sister/daughter team.

Giants B2-grade overcamea slow start and five and three-goal deficits at quarter and halftime to defeat Federal Light-ning 32-30.

Federal Angels dominatedtheir C-grade clash with Rov-ers Rups from the start, withbest of court Carly Noble scar-ing up 37 goals in the 42-23 winwhile a dominant second termby Neata Glass Giants Dre-maers put them on the path todefeat sister side Neata GlassGiants Jazz Hands.

Rovers Scope’s Lauren Parai was named best on court in the A Grade grand final Pictures: CHARLIE LOWSON

Steve Menzies

Rovers set the lead in grand finalplayoffsROVERS dominated the ClubEastside Alice Springs NetballAssociation grand final daywith five premierships rangingfrom 13-and-under through tothe A-grade.

There were 11 grand finalscontested on the day withRovers teams playing in eightof them.

Federal, the other big clubin the association, also hadeight grand final teams andended the day with two titles.

Neata Glass Giants alsowon two premierships whileWests and Seasons won oneeach.

The results showed therewas not much advantage inwinning a grand final berth asfive of the 11 premiers wonthrough from playing in thepreliminary final.

SCORESA-grade – Rovers Scope 46 dFederal Trusty Glass 38. Beston court: Lauren Parai.

A-reserve – Rovers T-Rex34 d Federal Trusty Glass 28.Best on court: Caitlyn Andres-en.

B-grade – Rovers ROTs 40d Federal Pulse 32. Best oncourt: Tania Prettejohn.

B-grade Div 2 – NeataGlass Giants 32 d FederalLightning 30. Best on court:Vicki Hutchinson.

C-grade – Federal Angels42 d Rovers Pups 23. Best oncourt: Carly Noble.

D-grade – Neata GlassDreamers 40 d Neata GlassJazz Hands. Best on court:Sarah Kloden.

17-and-under – SeasonsShaedz of Alice 43 d FederalFusion 24. Best on court IeshaSmith.

15-and-under Div 1 – Fed-eral Thunder 26 d Rovers 23.Best on court: Gabby Coffey.

15-and-under Div 2 – Rov-ers 3D 30 d Federal Phantoms20. Best on court: Rita MaeRoss.

13-and-under Div 1 –Wests’ Tyrewright 30 d RoversTigers 10. Best on court: Tami-kia Pond.

13-and-under Div 2 – Rev’dUp Rovers 21 d Seasons PrimeCut 14. Best on court: EllaAdami.

Rovers’ Michelle Ellis was on fire, shooting 30 of her side’s 46 points

Rovers’ Shannan King is heavily guarded by Federal Trusty Glass’ Crystal Dixon and Billie Newton Federal’s Gabi Borchers lines up a shot Rovers Scope celebrate their win over Federal Trusty Glass