Clinical Jamaica outclass T&T

Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

NEWTON, Singapore:

Jamaica's Sunshine Girls put on a clinical display, as they outclassed Caribbean rivals Trinidad and Tobago 79-42 in their quarter-final match at the Mission Foods World Netball Championship (WNC) yesterday.

Victory advanced the Oberon Pitterson-coached Jamaicans, who are ranked number four, to a semi-final showdown against defending champions Australia at a time when most of their compatriots would have been asleep this morning, 4:45.

"This is what we need going into the semi-finals against Australia," said Pitterson. "It was really just to work our style of play, keeping possession of the ball and ensuring that the ball goes into the circle very nicely."

Continuing, Pitterson said: "At times we need to tidy up some more, we are still too far from the player and we need to close down their movement a lot and to really secure those balls inside the circle and especially those rebounds, we really need to take care of them."

All-caribbean clash

In the all-Caribbean quarter-final clash, the Jamaicans made light work of Trinidad and Tobago from the opening quarter. This was due to the Trinidadians' inability to contain goal attack Ann-Kay Griffith and goal shooter Romelda Aiken.

Griffith, playing in her first WNC, netted a perfect nine goals from nine attempts in the opening period, while Aiken was also superb when she netted 11 goals from 12 attempts, as Jamaica raced to a 16-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Jamaicans, who had a determined look on their faces from the start of the game, mesmerised the Trinidadians with their swift ball movement, long aerial passes and tight defence, much to the delight of the spectators, who crammed inside the Singapore Indoor National Stadium, as Jamaica went on to amass a 39-19 lead at half-time.

Pitterson went to her bench at the start of the third quarter, replacing Aiken and Griffith with Jhaniele Fowler and Jodian Ffrench-Kentish.

However, this did not slow down Jamaica's free scoring as Fowler outmuscled the Trinidadian defenders on her way to scoring 21 goals from 22 attempts, as the Sunshine Girls moved into a 57-29 lead at the end of the quarter.

The 6'4" Fowler, who was named the player of the game in Jamaica's win over Singapore on Wednesday, was also brilliant in the fourth stanza, as she shot a perfect 21 goals from 21, which brought her tally of goals in the game to 42 from 41 tries.

The Trinidadians looked shell-shocked as they anxiously awaited the umpires' final whistle. Ffrench-Kentish scored one goal from one attempt.

Anastasica Wilson (20 goals from 26 attempts), Joelisa Cooper (15 from 19) and Janelle Barker (seven from nine) were the scorers for Trinidad and Tobago.

Yesterday's Results

QF 1-8: Jamaica 79 Trinidad & Tobago 42

QF 1-8: England 87 Northern Ireland 16

QF 1-8: New Zealand 58 South Africa 28

QF 1-8: Australia 58 Malawi 44

Play-off 9-16: Samoa 44 Wales 45

Play-off 9-16: Sri Lanka 62 Singapore 51

Play-off 9-16: Malaysia 39 Botswana 60

Play-off 9-16: Barbados 48 Fiji 49