Coming home strongly, Auckland鈥檚 Saint Kentigern College upset the heavily-favoured Mount Albert Grammar School 30-25 to clinch the 2026 NZ Secondary Schools Netball Champs title at the Auckland Netball Centre on Friday.
Saint Kentigern reversed the 10-goal loss to Mt Albert in pool play, to seal their second national title after winning their first in 2016. In the process, they denied previously unbeaten defending champions Mt Albert the opportunity of back-to-back titles.
"We've really come so far this season and we've had so much growth so I'm just so proud of all the girls," Saint Kentigern captain Abby Pinder said.
"The whole team just worked and worked and we really didn't give up. Our goal defence Jeanette (Tuumaialu) came through with some beautiful intercepts and our attackers like really just went hard and finished the job so it was good.
"For us today we knew that we just had to leave everything out on the court. This is the last time that we'll play as a team so we just wanted to give it our everything and we've played MAG's multiple times now so we know how they play and we just really, really wanted that win so that was the mindset for us."
With everything on the line, and players feeling the effects of an intense few days of tournament play, the Grand Final was not always a clinical spectacle but the closeness of the score throughout ensured an exciting ride.
Trailing early, Mt Albert found their flow to negate a four-goal deficit before hitting the first break with a tenuous 7-6 lead.
With a more purposeful and accurate showing on the resumption where centre Bella Gardiner was a strong presence through the midcourt with her ability to find space and free feeding opportunities, and smothering defence at the other end, Mt Albert pushed out to a three-goal lead.
However, Saint Kentigern hung on grimly, staying in the contest with resolute determination and patience. Goal shoot Marley Tangata-Toa, with 20 goals and a fine all-round game, was a feature with her movement in the circle and finishing touches.
Once levelling the scores, Saint Kentigern had several prime opportunities to push ahead but wasted opportunities kept the scores all-tied up at 14-apiece at the main break.
The third quarter followed a similar trend to the second with Mt Albert getting away to a rollicking start. Play-making goal attack Anne-Theresa Napara-Williams featured prominently with her deft skills, movement and shooting accuracy helping push her side out to a four-goal margin and looking to nail home the advantage.
But as they had shown previously, Saint Kentigern fought back admirably, making the most of a flurry of turnover opportunities to level up, leaving the teams locked in a 22-22 stalemate at three-quarter time.
Another run of turnovers highlighted the final quarter resumption with Saint Kentigern pouncing to nose in front, staying mostly safe with the ball and patient, and subsequently not looking back. Staring at a four-goal deficit with five minutes to go, Mt Albert were left frantically chasing the game.
Saint Kentigern goal defence Jenette Tuumaialu picked off some priceless intercepts, as she had done all match, while goal attack Caroline Kaifa showed her game smarts to run the clock down in the dying couple of minutes as the team went on to post the most satisfying of wins.
Coached by former national league players Bessie Manu and Ngarama Milner-Olsen, Wellington鈥檚 Scots College rounded out a strong tournament with a 28-23 win over Dunedin鈥檚 Columba College to clinch third place.
Scots held a narrow 7-6 lead at the first break and kept their noses in front from that point. Strong contesting from both sides produced a game which lacked flow and punctuated by a raft of turnovers which provided opportunities both ways.
With Scots College tall goal shoot Ali Barraclough double-teamed for long periods, lively goal attack Grace Allen played a strong support role in the circle with her movement and ability to convert the shot, helping the Wellington side to a 15-10 lead at halftime.
With drawn quarters to follow, and neither side able to stamp real authority Scots held on for a hard-fought win.
The athleticism and aerial skills of goalkeeper and Scots College captain Destiny Aleka led a well-performed and menacing presence at the defence end which Columba found difficult to breach.