ST Andrew High and St Hugh’s pulled off surprising upset wins to advance to the final of the Digicel/ISSA Urban Area Senior Netball League at the Leila Robinson yesterday.

St Andrew turned back favourites Tarrant in a close encounter, 23-22, while St Hugh’s held off a spirited Queen’s School 24-23 in another thriller.

In the Junior semi-finals, favourites The Queen’s trounced St Hugh’s, 30-11, while Vauxhall stopped Camperdown, 16-11.

Yesterday’s semi-finals was a test for the goalshooters under windy conditions. The Tarrant-St Andrew game proved exciting from the start, with the scores being 6-6 at the end of the first quarter.

St Andrew then capitalised on a few mistakes by their opponents and surprisingly went into the half-time break leading 10-9.

The third quarter saw the scores being tied at 14-14, 15-15, 16-16 and 17-17 before The Queen’s netted consecutive baskets to lead 19-17 at the break.

More excitement came in the final period as the teams picked up the pace.

St Andrew led 20-18 and scored three additional goals to go up 23-19 as Tarrant seemed to have lost their rhythm.

National player Samantha Whyte tried desperately to draw Tarrant level by switching to goal attack and then goal defence.

Tarrant fought well in the latter stages by pulling back three straight goals to be behind 23-22. They got a golden opportunity seconds before the final whistle, but goalshooter Shante Slater hit the rim and all was lost. It was also their first defeat of the season.

A similar situation obtained in the other semi-final between St Hugh’s and Queen’s where it went down to the final whistle. St Hugh’s were on top in the first two quarters and led 13-5 at half-time.

However, in the next two quarters The Queen’s engaged them in a ding-dong tussle. In the dying moments, the game could have gone either way, but St Hugh’s battled to keep their slim lead.

Meanwhile, the quarter-finals of the Rural Area Junior and Senior competitions will be played today at GC Foster and STETHS. In the Junior games, it’s Denbigh vs Titchfield at GC Foster; Bellefield vs Manchester at STETHS at 10:30 am; Glenmuir vs Herbert Morrison at 12:00, and Holmwood vs Anchovy at 12:45 at STETHS.

Seniors quarter-finals matches are: Denbigh vs Titchfield at GC Foster; Manchester vs William Knibb at STETHS at 11:15 am; Holmwood vs Frome at 11:30 and Tacius Golding vs Kemp’s Hill at GC Foster at noon.