DEFENDING champions John Mills and arch-rivals Windward Road won their respective semi-finals to advance to the final of the 2010 INSPORTS Junior High schoolgirl Junior League netball competition at the Leila Robinson Courts on Wednesday.

The Ransford Spaulding-coached John Mills defeated Constant Spring, 22-5, while the Stafford Alexander-coached Windward Road beat Seaward, 21-4, in their Junior League semi-finals. Both teams will enter Monday’s final unbeaten.

Defending Senior champions Windward Road also advanced to the final after securing two wins in their semi-final round-robin. They first defeated Shortwood Practising, 29-5, and then later outscored Melrose, 26-16, while Mico Practising rushed past Maverly, 23-15.

In the Junior League semi-final, it was easy going for the defending champions who led 10-3 at half-time as shooters Regene Smith and Domonique Durrant, pushed them into a comfortable lead. John Mills outscored their opponents in the second half with an additional 12 goals to win convincing.

Meanwhile, in the other semi-final, Windward Road were able to put the pressure on Seaward in the first half, as courtesy of their two shooters Idara McCarhy and Javette Newton, they were 12-2 up at the interval.

The game ended in a one-sided affair with Windward Road scoring nine more goals with only two replies from the losers, who went down 21-4.

In Senior League semi-final round-robin, defending champions Windward Road had things their own way against Shortwood Practising despite leading 4-1 at the end of the first quarter. They eventually stepped up the pace in the second quarter to increase their lead 12-1 at half-time. Shortwood did not score a bucket in the second quarter.

Windward Road’s shooters Lisa Blackwood and Nashaura Smith applied more pressure on Shortwood in the third quarter, scoring nine to Shortwood’s two for a 21-3 lead, before scoring another eight to the losers’ two to register a convincing 29-5 win.

The next game for Windward Road in the Senior League was against Melrose where they had to work hard in the first three quarters before pulling away to a convincing 26-16 win.

Windward Road only managed a 5-3 lead and it was narrowed to 10-9 at half-time after they were level at 7-7.

Both teams were locked at 13-13 in the third quarter before the defending champions gradually pulled away at 18-14 at the break.

It was all Windward Road in the final quarter as their shooters went on to score eight buckets to the losers’ four.

Meanwhile, Mico Practising had to work hard for victory as they were locked 6-6 at the first quarter break.

Mico took a 11-8 lead at the half-time break and in the third quarter were 16-12 ahead. Shooters Kelly Ann Shephard and Monique Howard kept scoring to keep Shortwood Practising in the lead and went on to win handsomely.

The semi-final round of the Senior League continues today, starting at 10:00 am.