COACH of the dominant Queen’s School Marvette Anderson had high praises for her netballers after they successfully defended their Junior and Senior titles of the ISSA/Digicel Urban Area High School Leagues at the Leila Robinson Court on Wednesday.

The Juniors defeated Tarrant High 35-16, while the Seniors got by former champions and perennial title contenders St Hugh’s High 36-21.

While her players came in for commendation for bringing home the titles, Anderson from her position as coach had issues with some aspects of the overall action in the finals themselves.

“The Junior final between Tarrant and Queen’s was not too exciting as I did not expect that it would have turned out to be another easy win as the first meeting,” Anderson said.

Even as they were outclassed by her superior team, the Queen’s coach congratulated Tarrant for their efforts in reaching their first final of a sometimes tough competition.

Tarrant, though missing the championship by just one game, were pleased with the accomplishment of the team this season.

“I think Tarrant had done well in the second game as they scored more goals this time around than their 32-8 defeat by Queen’s in their first meeting,” said manager Renford Taylor, who spoke on behalf of head coach Cecile Knight.

“I give them thumbs up as they made a great impact by reaching their first-ever final, and that was a very good achievement for the school.”

In assessing the Senior final against St Hugh’s, Queen’s coach Anderson thinks it was a great contest between two top-quality teams.

“The girls started a little flat, that’s why St Hugh’s got the early lead at 4-0, but once the shooters got their first goal, I knew they would be at their very best,” she said at game’s end.

As part of the game plan, Anderson revealed, the players were ordered to press St Hugh’s in the third quarter and they really worked the ball around”.

“We controlled the third and fourth quarters throughout, and our shooters were on top, while the other players gave it their all, and I must congratulate them for winning,” Anderson said.

Meanwhile, St Hugh’s coach Roy Pryce said hopes soared of a possible victory when his girls started off well by leading Queen’s early in the first quarter, but rued the way the game was allowed to slip away, albeit against a strong opposing team.

“We were still in the game where the scores were tied at 10-10, but the game slipped away from us in the third quarter as the players were not getting the ball to our top shooter Kadie-Ann Dunkley,” Pryce said.

He added that at one stage the players seemed to have given up and abandoned their customary game.

“Queen’s capitalised on a number of our turnovers and poor passes and went on to win comfortably. I congratulate Queen’s as they played extremely well in the final,” Pryce ended.

But it’s not yet the end of the road for Queen’s as they look to take the All-Island title as they await the winners of the Rural Area Junior and Senior Leagues.

The finals of those competitions are scheduled for next Thursday.

“The girls are looking forward to go all out for the All-Island titles and are confident that they can achieve this feat,” said the victorious urban area coach.