CLARENDON Gators defeated St James Sharpes 35-27 to capture the Netball Jamaica/Berger Elite League best-of-three finals, copping the series 2-0 at the Leila Robinson Courts on Wednesday night.

The Gators, jointly coached by Dalton Hinds and Valerie Blake, had won the first game of the best-of-three finals 40-38 last week Friday to take a 1-0 lead coming into Wednesday’s game two.

It was the fourth meeting between Gators and Sharpes, with the former winning on three occasions and drawing one.

For their victory, Gators collected the first prize cash award of $170,000, while Sharpes picked up $120,000 and third-placed St Catherine Racers walked away with $70,000.

Gators goal-shooter Kadie-Ann Dehaney was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the final match and will receive a paint-over of her house by sponsor Berger Paints Limited.

Shanice Beckford of St Ann Orchids was Voted the Top Shooter of the league.

Spectators, who came to see the Sharpes turned the table on Gators in order for the series to be levelled setting up a mouth-watering third match, were left disappointed.

Winning Coach Hinds said despite the low scores, he was very happy for the victory.

“The players played extremely well, but there were a few general mistakes during the match… but we kept the pressure on the Sharpes to come out victorious in the end,” he said.

Meanwhile, losing Coach Jennifer ‘Shaggy’ Brown said she was very disappointed with the many squandered opportunities that came her team’s way.

“We were without our key shooter Deneen Taylor from the first quarter and we had to make positional changes. The shootings were not up to standard as the shooters missed too many easy goals, especially under the rim,” she lamented.

Not seeking to make excuses, Brown believes her players were at a distinct disadvantage as the Gators’ defenders were much taller than her attackers. Nevertheless, she congratulated Gators for winning the league as they played well enough to be crowned champions.

The first quarter of game two was played at a real fast pace as both teams attempted to score some early goals. Sharpes were first off the mark with two quick goals, but Gators replied promptly to even things at 2-2. And at the end of the first break, the Clarendon franchise were up 9-5.

The Gators maintained their control of play, especially in centre court, by shooting and defending well, while Sharpes wasted easy shots. It was no surprise when Gators increased their lead to 18-12 at the half-time break.

In the third quarter, Sharpes’s Paula Thompson at wing-defence, who produced a number of valuable interceptions, led the charge as the team place itself back into contention as they came within just one goal of Gators (23-22) at one stage, but could not find that extra gear to surge ahead.

Gators eventually led 25-22 at the final break.

In the fourth and final quarter, Gators put their feet on the pedal and went further ahead as they opened up a seven-goal lead (30-23). It was clear that Sharpes lacked the edge to turn things around and struggled miserably in their attacking portion of the field, frustrated by the organisation and resilience of Gators’ defence led by Captain Nicole Aiken-Pinnock and Kasey Erving.

For Clarendon Gators, Dehaney netted 33 goals from 39 attempts, while the top-scorer for Sharpes, Jodi-Ann Ffrench-Kentish, scored 11 goals from 21.

In the third and third-place play-off match, St Catherine Racers clipped Manchester Spurs 57-56. The principal scorer for Racers were Ladonna Lamonth with 44 goals from 59 attempts, while Shantal Slater netted 49 goals from 54 attempts for Spurs.