Missing two of its key midcourters, Talia Chatfield and Lena Turnbull, from its line-up. the Premier Westlake Girls netball team won the annual Harbour Netball Tournament in impressive style.
Looking forward the facing the best on the North Shore, they suffered a nervous start in their first match against Orewa College which saw them trailing 7-9 at halftime time. However, a rejuvenated reset at the break gifted them a 20-11 win. The Premier team went on to beat St Cuthberts, 23- 7 and Kristin, the 2024 Harbour Netball Champions, 31-7 before meeting Rangitoto in the final. After finishing in the top four at the 2024 New Zealand secondary schools Champs, Westlake set a blistering pace in the 20 minute final to lead 14-5 at halftime. An impressive display of accurate shooting and stealth-like defense rewarded the top team with a splendid final win, 29-11.
The Harbour Netball tournament aims to showcase the top teams across all the age groups on the North Shore and like their big sisters, Westlake Girls Year 9-1 team also had an impressive unbeaten run in the Year 9 grade, their most convincing win coming from Kristin, 28-4. Westlake Year 10-1 team played strongly in the Year 10 grade, and only came unstuck against Avondale. Trailing 8-9 at halftime, the young side was able to pull it back, but eventually lost to Avondale by 3, 13-16. And the Westlake Premier 2 team who also competed in the Premier pool, lost narrowly to Rangitoto by 1 in the first round and went on to finish the day drawing with St Cuthbert’s, 15-15 and to finish 7th equal overall.