It was all one-way traffic for a slick Shayamoya Area Secondary School in their victory against host school, Kokstad College at the KZN Southern Regional of the SPAR KZN Schoolgirls’ Fast 5s Netball Challenge on Saturday 10 September.
The young team from Shayamoya ended their tournament with a determined performance, basketing 27 goals and not allowing Kokstad College any chances on the opposite side. The defenders often predicting which way the play would be sent, and easily intercepting, taking the play quickly back up to College’s hoop.
The towering goal scorer, Mbali Diphoko, the Captain for Shayamoya stood head and shoulders above her opponents. Camped out directly under the net for three quarters of the game, she was fed loads of opportunities as she calmly took aim, and fired off countless points during her teams successful day on the court.
At half time, the inform Shayamoya were 13 nil up, affording a bold move by a confident coach, Sthembele Matshingani, who rang out various substitutions midway through the second half. With nothing to lose, the fresh new attack took daring chances shooting for goals, with some adventurous and exciting shots floated towards the net from just inside the circle.
In the build up to the regional final, Shayamoya met travelling team, King Edward High School in their semi final and dominated that, with the final score 20 to 6. While Kokstad College had to work hard against Mthatha High School as their semi concluded with the score on 6 all. Kokstad College were lucky enough to advance to the regional final as they had a higher goal percentage.
The star team of the day began on a high note with their first win in the challenge with the score on 24-1, taking on Carl Malcomes High School. Shayamoya continued their shooting prowess, accumulating a remarkable total of 146 points throughout the seven games in the round robin phase, and only letting 15 goals in.
In their earlier meeting in the round robin game, Shayamoya beat Kokstad College 15-3. Learning from the dress rehearsal for the final, Shayamoya stepped up a gear in all aspects of their game.
After the tournament, Coach Matshingani said, “It has been a while that we have been able to play in a netball tournament, and this is our first Fast 5s. We had a brilliant, enjoyable day, overall it was a great tournament for us to play against so many different teams.”
Continuing, Matshingani shared, “We have a young team, no one is older than 15 years. They are dedicated, committed, good players and every time they step onto the court, they take things seriously.”
The next tournament heads to Hillcrest High School for the Highway Regional on Saturday 17 September, then a break before the final challenge taking place at Voortrekker Hoërskool for the Pietermaritzburg Regional on Saturday 15 October.
All the games will be livestreamed on the SuperSport Schools Mobile App or website. For more info follow the tournament on Instagram or like the Facebook page.
Medal Game
1 Shayamoya A.S.S.; 2 Kokstad College
Round Robin Results
1 Shayamoya A.S.S. 21 points; 2 Kokstad College 18 points; 3 Mthatha High School 15 points; 4 King Edward High School 9 points; 5 Carl Malcomes High School 9 points; 6 Ixopo High School 6 points; 7 Mt Currie High School 6 points; 8 St Thomas Residential School 0 points
ENDS