BOWDON and Hale Barns schoolgirls are celebrating after their school netball team emerged as champions in a prestigious national championship.

Hannah Jenkins and Savannah Arora, Year 8 pupils at Withington Girls School, were part of an eight-girl squad who had battled their way through five qualifying rounds in the Independent Schools' Netball Cup competition to secure victory in the Under-13s final against strong opponents, Brentwood School.

After a closely-fought match, with the score at a level 24-24 into the last minute of the game, the Withington Year 8s rallied as Hannah, from Bowdon, clinched the winning goal with only six seconds to go.

And the player of the match said she was delighted that Withington had triumphed in the competition, the first time in the school’s history that a major netball championship has been won.

“I was very proud,” she said. “It was great to be part of the winning Withington team.”

Out of school, Hannah has been selected for the Cheshire County U14 Development Squad this year and is currently a member of Wilmslow Lightning and Stockton Sapphires teams.

The 13-year-old has been playing netball since Year 3 when she was a pupil at Bowdon Prep School.

Twelve-year-old Savannah is a former Hale Prep pupil and is from Hale Barns.

She said: “We worked really hard for the competition and feel that although it was a close match, our training and focus helped us to win. Brentwood brought lots of spectators with them and we had just a small number of parents, but we kept our concentration to the very end.”

As well as representing Withington, Savannah plays netball for Wilmslow Lightning and Stockton Sapphires.

Withington’s Headmistress Mrs Sue Marks, who presented Hannah and Savannah with their medals, said: “We are very proud of our U13 netball team who played their way through many rounds to the Independent Schools Netball Cup Final and won it!. We are especially proud of our all of our girls' sporting achievements throughout the years. As a small school, we have had many more sporting successes than one would expect with only about 70-80 in each year group. The commitment and spirit from these remarkable girls is a true credit to WGS.”