Goal-shooter Adasha Norton brought the heat for Fire Service to get them past TSTT to advance in the Championship Division knockout competition in the Courts All Sectors Netball League on Tuesday evening.
It was the lone match of the four clashes scheduled that evening which saw action at the Centre of Excellence in Macoya, Tunapuna and the leading Fire Service team sealed a 24-19 victory in the first round of the knockout.
Also victorious that evening were Police X and Y teams and Jabloteh, which won by default after their respective opponents Bermudez, the University of T&T (UTT) and the Unit Trust Corporation (UTC) Sparks, did not show up.
In the final match carded in the 20-minute-a-half competition, Norton was up for the task and netted 23 goals from 33 attempts to help the firewomen progress after leading at halftime, 15-11.
TSTT tried different shooting combinations, opening with duo Candace Gibbs (8/12) as the goal-shooter and, Jocelyn Marcelle (5/6) as the goal-attack. Later replacing Marcelle with Kanika Paul-Payne (6/10), who had opened in the defensive end.
However, the change did not bore fruit as TSTT had hoped and the "Telephone Girls" were eliminated.
Fire, which emerged the league champion on the weekend after defeating Open Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), 39-24, moves on to meet Police Y, in the first semifinal at 7.10 pm. The other semifinalist will be determined from the winners of the earlier quarterfinal matches between Defence Force and Police X at 5.30 pm and Open Campus versus Jabloteh at 6.20 pm. That semifinal passes off at 8 pm as teams battled to get into Saturday's final.
Results
TSTT 19 (Candace Gibbs 8/12, Jocelyn Marcelle 5/6, Kanika Paul-Payne 6/10) vs Fire 24 (Adasha Norton 23/33, Pearl St John 1/8). Halftime: 15-11 (Fire).