West Leagues Balance coach Tracey Baggs believes composure and defensive pressure in the latter stages of their hard-fought clash with minor premiers Souths at National Park on Saturday proved the difference as they booked passage to a fourth straight grand final.
West were Newcastle netball's top-grade champions in 2017, 2018 and 2019 but finals have not been held for the past two years due to COVID.
They have travelled the hard road to the championship decider this year after finishing the regular season fourth.
But West easily dispatched third-placed Nova in the minor semi-final before taking a 49-45 win over Souths in the preliminary final.
Souths made a strong start on Saturday to lead 12-10 at the first break then 24-21 by half-time.
But West outscored Lions by four goals in both the third and fourth quarters. They were up 32-31 heading into the final period.
"There wasn't much in it," Baggs said. "I think we just kept our composure a little better. When we got that two to three ahead in that last quarter, we just kept possession.
"Souths were working really hard to try to bridge that gap a little bit in the last five to 10 minutes but our defensive unit played outstanding - Sophie [Dunning], Sammie [Chicken], Ella Butcher and Savannah [Angelozzi]."
Baggs brought tall goal attack Rhiannon Stokes on at half-time and injected Chicken into the defence end at goal keeper.
"Rhiannon just gives us that height," Baggs said. "Both her and Maddie Taylor are very similar height and I think that gave them a little bit to think about."
She also reserved special praise for Angelozzi, who played wing defence and matched up with former national league midcourter and Souths captain Narelle Eather. Eather was switched from centre to wing attack for the do-or-die encounter.
"Savannah was key in our game," Baggs said.
"She is so fit and strong and can run all day and was on Narelle for the whole game and did a good job. For a young girl - she's only 17 - to be on Narelle and make an impact is pretty impressive."
West are set to face University of Newcastle in the grand final next Saturday.
University finished the season second and were also four-goal winners over Souths in the major semi-final.
A disappointed Souths coach Tracey van Dal felt Lions were "out-hungered" by West in the final stages.
"We got off to the start that we wanted, which was fantastic," van Dal said. "We had a game plan for the first half and we executed that, so that was really pleasing.
"However, we then just kind of went away from our plan and lost our way a little bit in the third quarter and I think they were just a bit more hungry in the last quarter.
"It's absolutely devastating for Lions. You win 13 out of 14 games. You've clearly been the best team all year and then the last two games when it counts, just can't get over the line. In saying that, all of those [competition] games didn't have the intensity that the last two games have had.
"You can only play as well as your opposition allows you and the last two weeks we've been up against awesome oppositions. To their credit, they gave it to us and we were out-hungered by the end of the game."
