WA Sting Claim Third Place in ANL

The Western Sting has finished third in the 2012 ANL season after defeating the AIS 44-39 in the third place play-off at the Waverley Netball Centre.

The WA side was forced to do it the hard way, after retrieving a nine goal half-time deficit for the win.

AIS stormed out of the starting blocks, scoring the first seven goals of the match before going on to lead 24-15 at half-time.

Sting wrangled momentum in the third quarter courtesy of some half-time substitutions at the attacking end and strong defending from WAIS athletes Josie Janz and Alice Coakley to reverse their half-time arrears to lead heading into the final term.

Midway through the final quarter, the AIS managed to close the gap to one goal however the Sting held their class and finished strongly to win the match by five goals.

The Sting earlier however, missed the opportunity to feature in the final, after a narrow one goal loss to NSW in their semi-final.

The Sting led NSW inside the final minute, and held possession to attempt a match winning two goal lead. Unfortunately WA was unable to convert, with NSW equalizing before capitalizing on a centre-court start to snatch a dramatic late win.

NSW, however suffered their own heartbreak, losing to the Southern Force in the final, 50-36.