Bathurst finishes third at Netball NSW Senior State Titles, narrowly miss runner-up spot

The team dropped three of their first five games but went on a long unbeaten run through Sunday and Monday's games to keep the dream of a top two finish alive.

That bid would come up just short as they finished on 26 points, one point shy of Nambucca Valley.

Bathurst coach Trish Williams had ventured to the Maitland courts in pursuit of a top five finish, which the team ultimately achieved, but after coming so close to a runner-up result it felt more like a bittersweet moment.

As Williams predicted, Wagga Wagga breezed past everyone who stood in their path to finish as unbeaten champions, but the battle for second spot was a hotly contested one.

Bathurst finished in a three-way tie on 26 points with Cessnock and Barellan & District but their superior percentage secured third place.

Williams said it was a shame to see the rough opening day's play on Saturday prove so costly.

"On the first day we dropped three games that we should have had. We took six from six the next day and then had four from five on Monday," she said.

"We lost Hannah[-Lee Williams] with a badly sprained ankle. We thought it was broken initially, and she had to be taken away via ambulance. That happened midway through the first day and that made an impact because she's my centre.

"We had to juggle things around with some games, and the girls did a really good job with that, but things needed sorting out after dropping those three games."

Bathurst opened their tournament with a 22-17 loss to Barellan and then appeared to be on the right track with a pair of wins.

However, back-to-back defeats to Cessnock (15-14) and Charlestown (22-16) meant the team had to make serious adjustments to try and get things in order.

Bathurst then went on an 11-game winning streak ahead of their last game of the tournament against Wagga Wagga.

A loss from Nambucca Valley opened the door for a second place Bathurst finish but the team couldn't get close to an upset win over the champion side.

There were a couple of highlights among that winning streak for Bathurst, namely a tough 16-15 win over Nambucca Valley and a 17-15 victory over Central West rivals Orange.

Williams said it's a tournament that will provide valuable lessons for the team.

"We made some adjustments and on the second day we had a big debriefing session and we refocused on our transition on and off the court," she said.

"When you turn up and train hard you play hard. Their warm up that day was below average, and those results are the consequences of that.

"We improved on day two and three but that one game where we lost by one goal cost us. They were disappointed but they learned lessons from it, which is the main thing."

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