The Ewes conquered the Mountain Maids to knock the minor premiers out of grand final contention in the Horsham District league’s preliminary final. 

An early start helped the Ewes to victory, they won 51 to 40.

After such a strong season, the Ewes came away showing that third time really is the charm, gaining the win against the Mountain Maids. 

The Ewes will face Harrow-Balmoral in the grand final of the Horsham District league at Horsham City Oval this weekend. 

When they came into the main break, the Ewes had a 10-goal lead and held on for the remainder of the tie. 

Goals were shared between the two goalers from the Natimuk-based outfit – goal shooter Shannon Couch scoring 28 while goal attack Amy Pilgrim scored 23. 

Ewes coach Cheryl Sudholz said her team wasn’t expecting to get 10 goals ahead of the Mountain Maids at any time during the contest. 

“I thought it was probably going to be one-on-one all day – a contest and goal for goal,” she said. “For us to have that buffer was really nice and probably unexpected.” 

The 10-goal buffer came in the second quarter and Sudholz said it was a key part to the team winning the game by 11 goals. 

“From halftime that’s all we said we needed to do,” Sudholz said. 

“As long as we can keep that 10-goal buffer… And I guess probably pressure weighed a bit in that third and fourth (quarter), it was very high intensity. 

“We kept our cool and that’s all. We didn’t panic.” 

Sudholz said it was the calmness on the ball that helped her team over the line. 

“(We) came forward to the ball all day and that’s probably the main thing (which helped us win),” she said. 

“Everyone played well.” 

Sudholz said Pilgrim shot well against the Mountain Maids. 

“She shot beautifully,” she said. 

“And probably one of the things was we didn’t want to force it into Shannon (Couch) because we knew the one-on-one with Bek (McIntyre) and her (would be challenging). 

“They’re both similar heights. Amy stepped up and had the confidence to shoot, she’s always been a beautiful shooter it’s just sometimes we get a bit relaxed and chuck it into Shannon.” 

Mountain Maids coach Liz Reddie said it was a tough game. 

“We played well (and) Nati played a bit better, I think – but it’s hard to play on nine players when there is only seven on the court,” she said. 

Reddie said her whole team played well but said Ema Iredell was a standout in her eyes again. 

“She’s really strong,” she said. 

“I don’t really know what they did (to cause us trouble). I really don’t have a clue.

“It’s shattering (to miss out on the grand final).

“The girls are just shattered but we have to put it behind us now – we can’t change what has come out of the day.” 

Horsham District league chairman Graham King said the league called on independent umpires to officiate during finals. 

“I’m no expert on netball, but the umpiring seemed fine to me,” he said.