Girls whip Malawi, ready for Aussies
THE Sunshine Girls chalked-up their second consecutive win in netball at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, after strolling past lowly Malawi, 71-48, at the Thyagaraj Sports Complex yesterday to sit atop pool “A” with No 1-ranked Australia.
The Jamaicans are second in the group on goal average, as the Diamonds baptised hosts India, 113-18, in what is undoubtedly the performance of the Games so far.
Playing without regular centre Paula Thompson, who suffered a cheekbone injury in the first game against Trinidad and Tobago on Monday, the Girls shone from start to finish with Coach Connie Francis handing starts to rookies Kimone Tulloch at centre court and Jhanielle Fowler at goal shoot.
The pair turned in good shifts as the team held a nine-point lead (19-10) at the end of the first quarter.
Jamaica, who started with the experienced defensive pair of Althea Byfield (GK) and Kasey Evering (GD), doubled their effort in the second stanza, 21-10, for a comfortable 20-point (40-20) lead going into the half-time break.
Despite falling behind in the third, 13-18 (53-38), the result was never in doubt as the Sunshine Girls cruised to a 23-point triumph (71-48) after taking the final quarter, 18-10.
Team manager Hyacinth Smith said the team’s transitional play was smooth, with rookie shooter Fowler, who started in place of ace shooter Romelda Aiken, having yet another phenomenal game.
Fowler is a trooper,” Smith said. “She handled herself very well. Her position (on the court) was great… and she went for her balls very confidently.”
She added: “There were ups and downs (throughout the game), but as you can see from the result, we never (relinquished) the lead.”
Fowler, who scored 20 from 23 coming off the bench against T&T, netted 47 of her 55 attempts, with Aiken — who only played in the third quarter — having almost a perfect record of 10 from 11 tries.
Captain Simone Forbes and Anna-Kay Griffiths also chipped in with nine from 10 and five from six, respectively.
The No 4-ranked Girls will be out of action today, but will use the time off to prepare for their top-of-the-table clash against the No 1-rated Aussies tomorrow when they are expected to be at full-strength with the return of Thompson.
