Magpies pick up the prize in pre-season tournament

Markham's College's Billie Scurr prepares to shoot as Southern Tui defender Penny Johnson looks on at the Dunedin netball pre-season tournament at the Edgar Centre on Saturday. Photo: Gregor Richardson
Markham's College's Billie Scurr prepares to shoot as Southern Tui defender Penny Johnson looks on at the Dunedin netball pre-season tournament at the Edgar Centre on Saturday. Photo: Gregor Richardson
Dunedin's top 12 premier netball teams have got back into the swing of things with the pre-season competition.

Southern Magpies claimed the title as they beat Phys Ed A 31-28 in the final, capping a closely contested tournament held over the past two Tuesday nights.

The semifinal playoff between Southern Magpies and South Pacific Titans A was tight. More than five minutes of extra time was required before Southern finally got up by two goals.

Southern Magpies then came up against defending champion Phys Ed A in the final.

Phys Ed came out firing, going up 4-1 before Southern started reeling it back in.

Phys Ed shooters Sarah Boomer and Georgia Heffernan looked as if they had not skipped a beat since last season for the opening five minutes, but solid pressure from Southern defensive duo Tarryn Dickson and Lisa Lin disrupted the flow of ball to the Phys Ed shooting end.

That brought Southern back into the game late in the first half as it took a 16-14 lead into halftime.

The second half started off goal for goal until Southern goalkeeper Tarryn Dickson showed her rebounding strength, which was converted into a four-goal lead with 10 minutes of play left.

Phys Ed stayed in touch for the remainder of the game. It dragged the score gap back to two or three a couple of times before Southern, again, came up with timely turnovers.

Some classy attacking plays from both sides kept things interesting in the final five minutes.

Ultimately, however, Southern Magpies came away with the win, and the title.

In other games, Phys Ed B ended third after a close game, 23-22, against South Pacific Titans A.

Markham's College beat University Albion A 28-22 to take fifth spot.

Southern Tuis finished seventh after beating Phys Ed Blue 25-21.

St Hildas senior A won the battle of the school teams for ninth over Columba College Senior A, and Phys Ed C beat Markham's College B 27-18.

All premier and senior grades start the season proper on Saturday.

-By Bridget Thayer

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