DEFENDING champions Scotiabank ‘A’ defeated arch-rivals General Accident Insurance 49-45 in a thrilling and exciting Senior League netball final as the 2010 WISYNCO-sponsored Business House Netball Association (BHNA) competitions came to an end at the National Arena last Saturday.

It was obviously one of the best finals for quite a number of years as spectators were given their monies worth with exciting play throughout.

Action started swiftly and at a fast pace between both teams after the first centre pass signalled the start of the match in the first quarter. After a 2-2 tie, General Accident gained the advantage by putting their passes together nicely and rushed into a first quarter lead of 15-10.

For the remaining minutes of the second quarter, the insurance girls regained the lead 21-20, moved further to 24-21, but their opponents never allowed any commanding lead as General Accident went into the half-time break with a 25-23 lead.

The game continued its exciting twists and with the score tied at 27-27 in the early stages of the third quarter, Scotiabank moved ahead 28-27, but surrendered the lead in the closing stages of the third as General Accident went up 38-34 at the break.

The fourth and final quarter produced some fine display of netball skills and techniques from both sides, which saw both teams tying the score 38-38 before heading to the final score of 49-45 in favour of the rallying Scotiabank ‘A’.

For Scotiabank ‘A’, goal-shooter Marsha Murphy netted 40 goals from 47 attempts, goal-attack Viola Francis-Cummings scored nine goals from ten attempts, while for General Accident goal-shooter Margaret Byfield netted 37 goals from 39 attempts and goal-attack Peter-Gaye Thomas with eight goals from 17 attempts.