SHANTAL Slater scored 19 of 23 attempts and Deneen Taylor 12 of 18 for Jamaica’s U-19s to trounce England’s U-19s, 44-29, Friday night at the University of Technology Auditorium in the first four of 3M-sponsored netball matches.

The C Lloyd Walker-coached Jamaican girls burst to a 17-5 lead in the first quarter, which doomed the chances of England to ever to catch up since most of the members of the visitors’ team were playing together for the first time, according to their coach Colette Thompson.

In the second quarter the English girls fared better, responding to every point or two that the Jamaicans converted, as Jamaica led 23-11 at half time.

The visitors hummed early in the third quarter, closing the lead to 26-18, but failed to get a grip on the game as Jamaica added three consecutive points to wrap up the penultimate quarter, 33-21.

England just to seem to fall apart early in the last quarter as Taylor went on a rampage with five unanswered points to spur Jamaica to 38-23 with about five minutes remaining.

By then, however, the end was nigh and England put on a brave face to see the match through.

Shanice Lee added 10 from 12 attempts with Vanessa Jones chipping with three from five.

For England Alice Ewer scored 9 of 14, Amanda Davies 8 of 15, Rachel Shaw 5 of 10 and Shanaugh Craig 2 of 9.

Coach Walker was far from pleased, noting that there were too many turnovers and at times “we were on top of each other”.

He noted that the girls were not match-ready and had some technical difficulties.

England coach Thompson said her girls were learning from the match “which was the reason we brought them out here” as the build-up for the 2013 championships.

She was pleased with her team’s work ethic and believed that a good start in the first quarter was important for them to remain competitive against Jamaica.