Northern Hawks v Cripps in State Netball League preliminary final

A week after seeing their two-year unbeaten run ended by Cavaliers in the qualification final, Alicia Sargent's team responded with an emphatic 73-48 defeat of Cripps in the preliminary final.

It means the Launceston rivals will again meet at the Silverdome next Saturday having alternated the premiership between them since 2018.

Sargent was proud how well her team responded to last week's setback having finished the roster season with 14 straight wins.

"I think what we learned from last week is that for fair chunks of the game we played some really good netball," she said. "It was the first hiccup that we've had in such a long time that we just learned from it. We thought what will we do better next time?

"That's what we focused on because that's all you can do, go out there next time and we really focused on making sure we played as a team and had our units working together out there to have that impact. And that's what they did.

"I just talked to them about belief. They got out there and they wanted it and played their hearts out. They were first to loose balls, we had great energy on the bench and it was a real team effort."

With Ash Mawer (50 goals) outscoring the entire Cripps team, Hawks were relentless, storming into a 22-10 quarter-time lead and never looking back.

"I thought we had some really strong performances through the mid-court where I thought Lydia Cootes was on fire," Sargent said. "She had quick feet, was quick to contest ball and drive on into attack. Ellie Marshall played really strategic in wing defence. She got into contested position and started to cause a lot of havoc.

"We also had a goalie standing up and we were playing really smart patience in attack. Kendall (Jones) played that front space really well. We offered consistently to get it in there and Ash (Mawer) held it up strong to put the ball away.

"And then in defence we're setting ourselves up to contest ball as well and work as a unit. They all did well."

Hawks had lost the qualifying final to neighbours Cavaliers 62-56 last Saturday when Cripps beat fourth-placed Kingston 56-47 in the elimination final.

Both opens and 19-and-under grand finals will be played next Saturday at the Silverdome.

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