Teachers, Fire Stars shoot for title

WESTERN BUREAU:The curtains will come down on the inaugural Montego Co-operative Credit Union (MCCU) Western Business House Netball League this afternoon, with hot favourites Teachers West seeking to keep Fire Stars in check in the championship game at Montego Bay Community College (MBCC), starting at 3 p.m.

There will also be a third-place play-off, which features an intriguing clash between Sandals MoBay and Iberostar.

All eyes, however, will be on the championship decider.

Teachers, who are yet to taste defeat, will start favourites against Fire Stars, who have had an inconsistent season, but found form against Iberostar in the semi-finals.

"We are quite confident that we will take home this title," said Suzette Virgo, captain of Teachers. "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."

semi-final win

In their semi-final win against Sandals MoBay, Teachers led from start to finish, with Amalya Stewart scoring a game-high 30 goals and Virgo, who got seven, making 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 Fire Stars 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 at the end of regulation.

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

"We played an excellent game 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, captain of Fire Stars. "We will be throwing all we have in the finals."

In the third-place play-off, beaten semi-finalists Sandal MoBay and Iberostar will square off in a bid to end their respective seasons on a high note with the $20,000 cash award.

The champion will walk away with $70,000, along with 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."

-Paul Clarke