Led by a near perfect shooting from Jhaniele Fowler, the Jamaican “Sunshine Girls” scorched rivals, the T&T “Calypso Girls” 79-42 in their Misson Foods World Netball Championships quarterfinal, at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, yesterday. Goalshoot Romelda Aiken took the spotlight often for Jamaica but against T&T, it was her sister Nicole Aiken-Pinnock who came into her own with an exceptional showing at goalkeeper. Aiken-Pinnock was on fire, showing off her array of defensive skills while wing-attack and captain Nadine Bryan was dynamic around the attacking third, throwing pin-point accurate passes to her shooters. T&T, a former world champion, went into the quarterfinal encounter as underdogs and by the end of the first quarter, the Sunshine Girls, ranked fourth in the world had opened a 20-8 lead thanks to Aiken and goal-attack Anna-Kay Griffiths, who proved too much for T&T’s Crystal Ann George (goal-defence) and goal-keeper Alicia Liverpool.
T&T had a strong second quarter, restricting the usually prolific Jamaican team to 16 goals in the 15 minutes. T&T centre Candice Guerero, with quick evasive movements off her opposing player and tactical passing with teammate Joelisa Cooper, was spectacular to watch. In addition, Anastasia Wilson tried her best to keep T&T in with a chance while captain Janelle Barker replacing Cooper at goal-attack and contributed seven from nine attempts, to trail 36-19 at the half. In the third quarter, T&T tried to stifle the Jamaicans with Liverpool being replaced by Anika La Roche as goal-keeper. However, the Sunshine Girls introduced fresh players in Fowler and Jodi-Ann French Kentish and they were ready for anything T&T had to offer as they once again dominated the period, 21-10 for a 57-29 advantage ahead of the final quarter.
In the end, the shooting of Fowler, who ended with 42 goals from 43 attempts combined with Aiken’s 19 from 22, Griffith’s 17 from 19 and Kentish, with one from two attempts, proved too much for T&T to handle as it bowed out of medal contention. For T&T, Wilson was the main contributor with 20 from 27 attempts while Cooper ended with 15 from 20, and Barker, seven from nine. With the win, Jamaica advanced to meet Australia in one of two main draw semifinals while top ranked New Zealand comes up against England in the other. The Aussies battled past Malawi 58-44; England 87 thrashed Northern Ireland 87-16 and New Zealand brushed aside South Africa 58-28. T&T meanwhile, will meet Malawi from 10 am today (TT time) in one of two fifth to eight semifinals while South Africa faces Northern Ireland in the other, also from the same time.
Results
Main Draw
England 87 bt Northern Ireland 16;
New Zealand 58 bt South Africa 28;
Australia 58 bt Malawi 44;
Jamaica 79 bt T&T 42
Ninth to 16th playoff
Sri Lanka 62 bt Singapore 51;
Botswana 60 bt Malaysia 39;
Fiji 49 bt Barbados 48
Wales 45 bt Samoa