North Harbour Defeat Hamilton City 35-34 To Win Nz Open Champs Title

In the tightest of tussles, North Harbour edged a gallant Hamilton City 35-34 to claim the NZ Police Netball NZ Open Champs title in Palmerston North today.

Returning to the events calendar after a seven-year hiatus, the five-day tournament featured 70 matches before North Harbour, who remained unbeaten throughout, inked their name on the New Zealand Cup.

“I’m a little bit shocked and overwhelmed,” jubilant North Harbour captain Fa’amu Ioane said afterwards.

“I’m just really happy that we got through the week. We just progressed through the week by taking it one game at a time and never looked too far ahead.

“It’s great to have this tournament back. The NPC has always been a tournament I’ve looked forward to and I’m really happy to be a part of it again.

“Back in the day, we came second so often, so getting the win is such a big thing for our North Harbour Centre.”

Beaten by eight goals by North Harbour in pool play, Hamilton City delivered a terrific response in the title match where they pushed their opponents all the way in a contest where neither side could stamp any real authority.

North Harbour led 9-8 at the first break before Hamilton City, making better use of their opportunities and with shooter Monica Falkner finding her grove under the hoop, made the best possible start to the second quarter with a five-goal unanswered run.

North Harbour made a similar reply after goal attack Alyssa-Jean Savelio was injected into the game, helping level up the scores, the ebb and flow becoming a feature of an absorbing end-to-end arm-wrestle.

Leading by two (18-16) heading into the third quarter, North Harbour made a concerted charge to push out to a five-goal lead, the biggest of the match but Hamilton City were far from done and stormed back with a string of unanswered goals, where Falkner was a key factor, to once again, level up the scores.

In a drawn quarter, North Harbour held the slightest of edges when leading 29-27 at the last break.

Highlighting the closeness of the contest, it took nearly three minutes before the first goal was scored in an exciting final run to the line.

North Harbour made their move in the latter stages, building some breathing space on the back of a four-goal buffer with four minutes to play. A late charge by Hamilton City closed the gap to one before time eventually ran out.

Respective goal attacks, Savelio with 17 from 21, and Falkner 21 from 23 were influential figures for their respective teams, North Harbour enjoying greater shooter accuracy which proved key in the narrowest of wins.

Similarly, it couldn’t have been any closer in the play-off for third with Tauranga pipping Counties Manukau Cluster 37-36 in another thriller.

The beaten semi-finalists produced a worthy contest which remained in the balance from go to whoa.

Tauranga held the slightest of edges when leading by two at halftime and after scoring the first three goals of the third quarter, the Bay of Plenty side jumped out to a five-goal advantage.

The injection of tall shooter Amelia Walmsley combined with goal defence Lisa Putt plucking off a couple of intercepts paid dividends and Counties Manukau Cluster stormed back with six straight goals of their own before hitting a narrow lead.

From there, the game hung on a knife edge with the scores all level at three-quarter time and the lead changing hands several times in the run home.

CLICK HERE for final results and standings
 

Official Result and Stats:

North Harbour:

35

Hamilton City:

34

Champion Data Match Centre

Shooting Stats - North Harbour:

Alyssa-Jean Savelio 17/21 (81%)

Auteletoa Tanimo 11/13 (85%)

Meretini Fuimaono 7/7 (100%)

Shooting Stats - Hamilton City:

Monica Falkner 21/23 (91%)

Kate Taylor 10/17 (59%)

Jade Kawhe 3/4 (75%)

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