Bathurst 17s put region on notice with near-upset effort in final

However, instead of battling away to keep up with their experienced rivals the Bathurst squad almost took out the entire tournament.

Bathurst came within just five points of the ever-dominant Orange outfit in Sunday's grand final after an impressive showing across the two days' play at Dubbo Sportsworld.

The blue and golds ended up going down 44-39 in an exciting grand final after they had scored a 39-34 win over Dubbo Blue in the semi-final earlier in the day.

Bathurst and Orange were locked at 22-all at half-time before the latter's experience came to the fore in the run towards the final whistle.

Bathurst coach Trish Williams said the signs were there early in the competition that her side might be able to give Orange trouble.

"We only lost the first game against Orange by five when we played them on the first day, and that was when we had players in random positions," she said.

"Orange didn't have their full Thunder team and we took advantage of that. There was no Teagan Dray or Katie Matthews ... but we never expected to play division one, so we wanted to put our best game forward knowing that it was great exposure.

"We thought that if we do well that's a bonus and if we don't then that would be a lesson.

"One of the coaches from Parkes said that they'd never seen anything so well executed. They were so strong on the court, and for 16-year-olds they really held themselves together. We were very pleased."

Bathurst gradually worked towards getting their optimal lineup on the court together only later into the competition, which Williams believed worked to everyone's benefit.

"Orange only pulled away in the last quarter of the final after a couple of missed shots and that's what cost them the game, but they played really well," she said.

"We played the final with our running seven. That was our game plan. We gave all the babies a run on the first day .. before we used our running seven against Dubbo Blue and Orange on the last day.

"We beat Dubbo Blue - which was should have done on the Saturday - but getting the younger players exposed was really important. It was great for them to build up their confidence.

"The Dubbo coach said to me 'I haven't seen all these girls on court together until now' and that was always the game plan. We always wanted to step it up at the right time and not show all our cards early."

Bathurst finished third on the ladder after the four-team round robin phase was finished, with three wins and three losses.

They had traded a win and a loss with Dubbo Blue over the course of the weekend, which set up an exciting semi-final contest.

Bathurst fielded their most experienced lineup in the semi-final and their composure was a significant factor in their success.

They went on to give Orange a major scare in the grand final.

Despite not being on the right end of the scoreboard after a back-and-forth game Bathurst would leave Dubbo knowing they'd made a huge statement against the region's powerhouse association.

The result is a big boost for the Bathurst team ahead of their division one Senior State Age Netball titles in Maitland over June 10 to 12.

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