Third place for Inverell's 15's state netball team

The girls competed in division three after finishing 4th in the 14's division four last year- a major step up.

Prior to this state carnival the team had been training twice a week for nine months. They played in local and coastal carnivals.

They won the 17's Regional League defeating teams from Quirindi and Armidale. This was a major achievement as many of the girls are still only 14.

At the State Titles on the weekend the team played 18 games over the three days. The teams came from all across the state including many coastal teams and towns with larger populations than Inverell.

This included; Casino, Nelsons Bay, Tamworth, Leeton, Southern Highlands (Mittagong, Bowral), Great Lakes (Forster/ Tuncurry), Dubbo, Mudgee just to name a few.

On the first day the girls had five wins and one loss. They had wins against Muswellbrook (21-14), Singleton (17-14), Port Stephens (22-14), Kiama (19-10) and Mudgee (14-12). They were defeated by Shoalhaven 27-21. Shoalhaven ended up winning their division after going through the tournament undefeated.

On the second day the girls won all their six games. They defeated Dubbo 18-15, Sapphire Coast (Bega area) 25-9, Casino 22-18, Nelson Bay 21-7, Lower Clarence (18-6) and Tumut (30-24).

On the third day they were defeated by Great Lakes in the first game of the day 22-15. This would end up be the deciding factor between the girls finishing second and third. They then defeated Queanbeyan (22-16) and Tamworth (16-8).

The girls were now in the situation where they needed to build their for and against average. We defeated Woolgoolga (30-8), Leeton (30-8) and in the last game of the tournament Southern Highlands (20-13) for a very strong finish.

After the loss on the third day the girls were in a fight for second position with Nelson's Bay on for and against. They followed Inverell is the draw and played the same teams as Inverell on the final day. Both Nelsons Bay and Inverell ended up with 16 wins and 2 losses. Unfortunately, the for and against from the first day would come back to bite us.

Shoalhaven were outright winners of the division as they were undefeated. Nelson's Bay had a for and against average of 9.57 placing them second. We finished with a for and against average of 8.60 which placed us third. This is a major achievement and result for Inverell Netball.

The team was coached by Emma Mozzell with assistance from Josie Wineti.

The team consisted of Isabel Richardson, Jhonty Scott, Gabbie Barratt, Hannah Ditchfield, Alexia Wineti, Amica Cuell, Charlotte Mozzell, Grace Doyle and Jessica Partridge.

Special mention to Haylee Wyndham who umpired for the three days at the State Titles after recently receiving her C badge. Also to Chloe Thompson who played in the Opens Division with Quirindi who finished 13th out of 19 teams.

This team also played 18 games over the weekend. Finishing 13th is also a major achievement as within this division were Newcastle, Manly, Randwick and many very strong Sydney based teams.