There is no doubt the state’s heart of junior netball talent lies within the Western Border Netball Association after it dominated the 2021 Netball SA Country Championships last weekend.

Coming up against the best regional players from South Australia, all three Limestone Coast teams Western Border, Mid South Eastern and Kowree Naracoorte Tatiara were in contention for the A Grade trophy.

After two days of exhausting action, WBNA was  forced to overcome both of its neighbours in the sudden-death finals.

 Eventually the team coached by Donna Denton achieved back-to-back championship titles and did so in thrilling fashion.

The association’s celebrations did not end there either, with its Under 17 and 15 sides also taking home trophies while its leading Under 13 outfit went undefeated.

Facing regional rival KNTNA, the Western Border side showed its hunger to defend the crown by scoring the first three goals of the A Grade decider.

However, KNT wrestled back the momentum shortly  after and this back-and-forth pattern continued throughout each tense quarter.

After the initial arm wrestle the defending champions scraped to a four-goal lead before the main break.

The advantage increased close to double figures when play resumed, but a couple errors from Western Border brought the game back to level pegging.

The large crowd was on the edge of their seats at Priceline Stadium as the sides diced goal for goal until the final whistle.

Nothing separated the rivals with just 30 seconds to go and the prospect of extra time appeared increasingly likely.

However, the cool head of West Gambier’s Lisa McGregor came to the fore and she scored the winning goal inside the last 10 seconds.

KNT could not find a response in the dying moments and suddenly the final whistle was blown to ignite wild celebrations for WBNA.

Denton has seen a lot of netball over the years, but said that game was one of the most exciting finishes she has witnessed.

“Three years ago was very close, but I do not remember winning by one goal like that,” she said.

 “It was also probably the biggest crowd for a senior game because of the different format, so we had all of our juniors cheering us on.

“It was a great feeling, but also a bit of relief after two days of tough netball.

“It was certainly a good way to finish and a great reward for the girls who put their hands up to represent the league and the association.”  WBNA’s winning campaign started with a daunting set of four group games on Saturday.

The side was forced to play on the biggest stage playing a curtain raiser to the Adelaide Thunderbird’s Suncorp Super Netball clash which Denton described as a “real thrill” for her girls.

It was also a rematch form the 2019 SA Country Championships decider and WBNA fell short to Port Lincoln, but bounced back to record wins in the other Saturday fixtures.

Teams faced an even bigger task on Sunday with three games before the finals and Western Border had little trouble overcoming the KNT, Western Eyre and MSE netball associations.

Western Border squared off with Mid South Eastern in the semi-final again and breezed past its neighbours 32-18 to enter the decider and go on to win another state title.

From the victorious squad, East Gambier goalie Tenille Gray, centre Emily Hunter and defender Lisa  Fyfe were also named in the top 10 players of the competition.

Tarsh McCallum led well as captain all weekend, first-year players Paige and Hannah Nitschke showed no  nerves, while Jade Ritter and Imogen Walker also played their roles.

But things did not completely go to plan after injury struck an unfortunate Tyne Bosko, while McGregor had to juggle coaching commitments with the Under 17 team.

Denton said the secret behind the success was the team’s collectiveness.

“We were a very young side and not the tallest, but had lots of speed and agility to work together and gel across the two days,” she said.

“You always need a little bit of luck on your side when you win by a goal, but they were a very skilful team that just had a lot of fun together.” It was another WB v KNT finale in the Under 17’s competition and the former also prevailed by just four goals on Monday.

McGregor claimed her second medal in as many days, but this time as a coach.

Trophies continued to go Western Border’s way with Karen Gould leading her team to glory against Riverland by a single goal in the Under 15’s grand final.

The WB Under 13 Division 2 team almost made it a four-peat, but fell short to River Murray in a strong effort.

Denton said not only WBNA’s, but the region’s strong efforts at the Country Championships showed the Limestone Coast is driving the future of the sport.

 “To win the seniors, 17’s and 15’s is credit to the association’s strength and to Di Gould, who did a huge amount  of work to get us to the championships,” she said.

“With KNT and Mid South East also performing well in the finals, I think South East netball is looking really strong.”