West Leagues Balance beat Nova in Newcastle netball semi-final

In a tight tussle, West were able to capitalise on possession and held off a fourth-quarter fightback to keep alive their season.

The four-time defending champions led 11-9 at the first break, 24-18 at half-time then 36-27 heading into the final quarter.

Nova, who bowed out at the same stage last year, reduced the gap during the last period before West restored the nine-goal scoreline.

"I'm incredibly disappointed for the girls," Nova coach Laura Glendenning said.

"They worked their butts off and fought the entire game, but credit where it's due. Defensively, West are very strong. Attack, they were very strong. Across the whole court, they were very strong.

"When your centre, wing defence, goal defence and goal keeper are all current [NSW] Premier League players, it's always going to hurt you. And they are fantastic players.

"They were the better team today, and unfortunately in some aspects we didn't capitalise ... We just can't get over this final hurdle. It hurts us."

West Leagues Balance coach Tracey Baggs enjoyed the luxury of being able to field her strongest 10-player complement of the season.

"Defensively, we were really good today, being able to change up our four defenders and then obviously freshen that middle court up," Baggs said.

"But they gave us a good run. They obviously had a good strategy on how they were going to move the ball quickly into their attack end and [goal attack] Caitlin Lobston is just an outstanding player."