TeamBath have won the Co-operative Netball Superleague title after beating defending champions Mavericks 54-46 in the final.
Skipper Cookey named Player of Match after 54-46 win
TeamBath have won the Co-operative Netball Superleague title after beating defending champions Mavericks 54-46 at Coventry's SkyDome.
It caps a perfect season for the west country side who finish their 2008-09 campaign unbeaten.
In what's become something of a TeamBath trademark, they quickly blasted into a commanding advantage, leading 19-8 after the first quarter.
The shock and awe tactics that have served them so well across the season again proving decisive by the final quarter.
Mavericks regained their composure somewhat to win the second quarter by 12 goals to 10 but were still nine behind at half-time (29-20).
The shooting pairings on both sides were statistically well matched with Louisa Brownfield (91%) and Ella Clarke (83%) for Mavericks and Rachel Dunn (82%) and Pamela Cookey (93%) for TeamBath both performing well.
But it was TeamBath's volume of shots that ultimately won the day, Mavericks netting 46 of their 52 chances - the new champions 54 from 62.
Turn up the heat
The third quarter saw TeamBath turn up the heat and by forcing errors from their opponents they were able to restore their 11-goal advantage (42-31) going into the last quarter.
Bath centre Serena Guthrie was particularly impressive, popping up all over the court throughout the match with no sign of flagging.
It was just as well she was full of pep as once again the come-back queens of superleague netball were not ready to be beaten.
In the semi-final against Loughborough, Mavericks had been out of the running, some nine goals behind with eight minutes to play, but fought back superbly to become they only superleague side to make the final four years on the trot.
They threatened another great fight-back on Saturday as they hauled in the goals to trail by just five at one stage in the final 15 minutes, but TeamBath stayed focused, kept possession, slowed their play down and finally won the match by eight goals.
TeamBath captain Pamela Cookey, with a 93% shooting success rate, was named Player of the Match, but will not have much time to celebrate the victory as, less than 24 hours after collecting the trophy, the skipper is flying off to play in the ANZ for New Zealand side Northern Mystics.
