Teachers, Firestars in today's final

Adrian Frater, News Editor

WESTERN BUREAU:

The curtains will come down on the inaugural Montego Co-operative Credit Union Western Business House Netball League this afternoon with the championship game and the third place play-off at Montego Bay Community College, starting and 3 p.m.

In the championship game, red-hot favourites Teachers West, fresh from their 37-15 semi-final win over Sandals MoBay, will meet Firestars, which had a surprise 6-5 win in extra-time against Iberostar in their semi-final clash that had ended 19-19 in regulation time.

In the third place play-off, which promises to be a keenly contested affair, Sandals MoBay and Iberostar - the two beaten semi-finalists - will square-off in a bid to end their season on a high note by winning the $20,000 cash award.

The winner of the championship game will walk away with $70,000 alongside the Montego Co-operative Credit Union Trophy, while the beaten finalist will take home $40,000.

Additionally, there will be cash incentives on offer for the tournament's Most Valuable Player, the Best Defensive team and the Most Disciplined team.

"We are expecting an exciting end to what has been a most entertaining first season of business house netball here in the west," said Gina Haughton, the competition's coordinator. "It has been an incident-free season and we want it to end that way."

TEACHERS FAVOURITES

Based on their semi-final showing, the unbeaten Teachers should start favourites against Firestars, who have had an up and down season, but were brilliant in taking out Iberostar in their semi-final clash.

"We are quite confident that we will take home this title," said Suzette Virgo, captain of the Teachers team. "We have done a lot of hard work to get to the final and we are not about to squander what we have worked so hard for."

In their semi-final win against Sandals MoBay, Teachers led from start to finish as Amalya Stewart, with a game-high 30 goals and Virgo, who got seven, made life difficult for their opponents. Novella Gordon got seven of Sandals' 15 goals.

In the clash between the 'Stars', it was a humdinger all the way as Firestars won the first quarter 6-2, Iberostar stormed back to take the second and third 4-3 and 8-5, respectively, before the final quarter ended 5-5, resulting in the 19-19 tie.

In overtime, Iberostar won the first period 4-2, but Firestars took the second 4-1 to seal their place in the final.

"We played an excellent game today and once we can repeat this form in the final I think we stand a good chance of taking home the title," said Taniesha Drummond, the captain of Firestars. "We will be throwing all we have in the finals."

Nakiesha Allen and Icolette Jarrett, with 12 and seven goals, respectively, were outstanding for Firestars, while Renee Caseley and Nadine Earle, with 13 and five goals, respectively, battled gallantly for Iberostar.