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Defending champions London Pulse advanced to the Netball Super League grand final with a 60-56 win over Loughborough Lightning.
Liv Tichin scored 30 goals as the Pulse also set up a rematch with Manchester Thunder. whom they lost by the same scoreline In last week’s big semi-final.
The Pulse, who finished second behind the Thunder in the regular season, beat their opponents to win the knockout stage for the second year in a row. Last year’s grand final.
After the first quarter ended at 16-16, the Pulse took a 30-29 lead into the halftime break and closed out a 47-45 lead to win the preliminary final after 45 minutes.
Samantha Wallace-Joseph scored 28 goals for the Lightning, who finished third in the regular season despite winning their first nine games.
“It was amazing. We knew what we had to do. We knew it was going to be a really, really tough game but I’m so proud of everyone in that team,” said man of the match Sophie Kelly, who scored 22 goals at Lee Valley Velopark.
“We stuck to the gameplan and everyone left everything on the court. We deserved it.
“Against the Thunder (in the majors semi-finals), we didn’t score enough in each quarter so that was one of our focuses.”
The Pulse and Thunder beat each other in their home fixtures during the regular season before the Manchester side came out on top last week.
Coach Sam Bird praised the reaction of the Pulse players after losing the major semi-final, saying: “They knew I was upset – the leaders of the group said, ‘We know we can do better, it’s up to us’.”
He added: “I enjoyed the way we played. We talked about having that grit and belief and really breaking down the Loughborough partnership.
“After our first quarter, I thought it was our best quarter (of the season) and they just pushed for the whole game.”
The Netball Super League Grand Final will be played at Co-op Live in Manchester on Saturday, June 20 (15:00 BST).
