DEFENDING champions Scotiabank ‘A’ defeated arch-rival General Accident 64-57 in extra time to wrap up their best-of-three finals 2-0 to retain their Senior ‘A’ League title as the curtain came down in the 2015 Business House Netball Association (BHNA) Divisional Leagues at the National Indoor Sports Centre (NISC) last Saturday.

It was a match considered one of the best in a long time as both teams fought to the very end in regulation time with the scores locked at 48. However, Scotiabank ‘A’ proved fitter than General Accident in the 14 minutes added to outscore their opponents.

“It was a very tough game as we had to dig deep into extra time to pull off victory. We produced quite a few errors, especially in our turnovers, when we took over the lead and went up by seven goals,” reflected winning head coach Nevers.

“We had it from then onwards but we allowed General Accident to come back into the match once again and within the last two minutes they tied the match 47-47 and went up by one goal 48-47. Luckily for Scotiabank ‘A’ in the dying second we were awarded a contact in the shooting circle where Murphy-Dawkins scored to tie the match at 48-48,” he said.

Meanwhile, goal-shooter Marsha Murphy-Dawkins was voted the most valuable player (MVP) of the match as she netted 58 goals from 69 attempts for Scotiabank ‘A’, while goal-shooter Margaret Lawrence scored 26 goals from 31 attempts and goal-attack Sabrina Spence scored 24 goals from 25 attempts.

In the first quarter General Accident led 10-4 before Scotiabank ‘A’ fought back to close the lead at 14-13 at the break. The scores were tied 21-21 in the early stages of the second quarter with the losers managing to regain the lead at 26-23 at the half time break.

Third-quarter action was very intense and a ding-dong tussle ensued, but Scotiabank ‘A’ rallied nicely to tie scores at 33-33 and eventually taking the lead for the first time at 34-33.

For their victory, Scotiabank ‘A’ received $35,000 and the championship trophy along with medals, while General Accident took home $25,000 with $15,000 going to Scotiabank ‘B’, and fourth was GraceKennedy.