DEFENDING champions JAMALCO defeated Tivoli ‘A’ 55-45 to take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-three play-off finals of the 2013 Berger Paints/JNA Super League at the Leila Robinson Courts on Thursday.

The second game of the best-of-three series finals will be played this evening, beginning at approximately 6:00.

Meanwhile, JAMALCO coach by Winston Nevers was very pleased with the performance of his players, especially goal-shooter Elaine Davis who he said was in excellent scoring form with 47 goals from 53 attempts.

“We did not start too well in the first quarter and I told the players they must step up the pace on our opponents in the second quarter. The players produced a fast-attacking display and we gained a good half time lead,” Nevers said.

Meanwhile, losing coach Sylvester ‘Chris’ Campbell said he thinks that the match against UWI Pelicans ‘A’ might have taken a lot out of the players, and they never got enough time to recuperate.

“Pelicans have a bunch of young and fit girls who can run hard and we had to fight hard to get on even terms with them as most of our players are not as fit and young as them,” Campbell said.

Meanwhile, both teams wasted a few turn overs and also missed scoring opportunities in the early minutes, as it was Tivoli ‘A’ who went up 6-4 before they took the first break locked at 9-9.

The teams were locked again 13-13 early in the second quarter before JAMALCO scored five straight goals to go up 18-13 before Tivoli ‘A’ replied with one goal. The winners were playing a much better team combination of fast-attacking passes before going into the half-time break 29-22.

Third quarter action was very critical for Tivoli ‘A’ as they needed to score goals and also match their opponents at centre court where they allowed them too much space. With the Tivoli players moving too slowly in centre court, JAMALCO went up by 10 (38-28) and even got a 14-goal lead (44-30) before taking the final break at 45-34.

It was now or never for Tivoli “A” in the fourth and final quarter as they needed to step up their game, but the going was too tough for them as Naudia Brown, Sasher Gaye Henry and Kerry-Ann Brown produced some excellent passes, while goal-tenders Althea Byfield and Nicole Aiken-Pinnock did some fine interceptions to prevent their opponents to close in and went on to win handsomely 55-45.

Naudia Brown scored seven goals from 10 attempts for JAMALCO, while Sabrina Spence scored 38 goals from 48 attempts and Jodi-Ann Ffrench-Kentish had seven goals from 16 attempts for Tivoli ‘A’.

Meanwhile, third and fourth place play-off will be played between UWI Pelicans ‘A’ and Mico ‘A, beginning at 4:00 pm today.