Finally.
After meeting Lone Star in the Wakatipu Netball premiers final for the past eight or so years, and coming off second-best every time, the Queen Bees hung on for the win at the Queenstown Events Centre on Saturday, ahead 38-35 at the final whistle.
Queen Bees captain Kat Coulter says the game was ‘‘absolutely awesome — it wasn’t easy though’’.
‘‘We led the whole way and Lone Star just kept coming back at us.
‘‘I’m so proud of this team and their performance, they came out firing and never let up, right to the very last whistle.
“[It was] an epic way to finish the season.’’
The win also means Queen Bees will be looking for a new captain, with Coulter finally able to retire after playing for the team for the past 22 years.
She is now looking forward to concentrating on her son and two daughters, both up-and-coming netballers.
Fellow team stalwart Sarah Russell, though, reckons she might have one more season in her.
Russell’s played in the Wakatipu Netball league for 23 years, the past 20 of those with the Queen Bees, through the team’s various name changes.
Appropriately, she was given the team’s ‘Legacy Award’ on Saturday night.
While she had initially contemplated hanging her bib up this year, ‘‘at a push, I could do one more, and then that’s it’’.
However, Russell’s final season depends on rehabbing a knee that’s been giving her gyp for some time — she found out on Monday she may have been carrying an ACL tear.
