ST JAMES Sharpes pulled off a thrilling 47-46 win over Manchester Spurs in their 2015 Netball Jamaica (NJ)/Berger Elite League encounter at the Leila Robinson Courts on Friday evening.

The win pushed the unbeaten Sharpes to the top of the points table with seven points from three games, while the Spurs were suffering their first defeat to joint St Catherine Racers in second place.

Sharpes had to fight off a tough fourth and final quarter from Spurs. The match could have gone either way with the scores even on seven occasions before the winner was decided in the final 15 seconds of the game.

The player who made the difference and secured the win for Sharpes was goal-shooter Deneen Taylor, who scored that all important goal in the few remaining seconds to clinch a battling encounter. She was also named the most valuable player of the match, scoring 34 goals from 37 attempts.

Winning coach Jennifer Brown said all the players played their part in what was a very good match.

“I told the players at the time out called to try and keep possession of the ball and get it up to the shooters and don’t panic,” Brown said.

He also noted that it was not easy as the Spurs are a very good team. “I also instructed the senior players to take control of the game and dictate the pace and they did just what they were told.”

She said captain and wing-attack Sasher-Gaye Henry played extremely well for the team, as well as good defensive work from goalkeeper Paula Thompson.

Meanwhile, losing coach Carline Graham-Powell said Spurs could have won the game, but wasted too many turnovers, especially in the last two minutes when it was evenly balanced.

“We got too many opportunities to go ahead and easy scoring chances were wasted and mistakes were produced by a number of players as they rushed the game too much,” Graham-Powell said.

She said it was, however, a challenging and tough encounter as in those last two minutes anybody could have won. “We still have many more matches to play and everything has not been lost as we are looking to be among the top four teams who will qualify for the semi-finals.

“I know we can beat Sharpes and we will be looking to return the compliment when we face them in the return round,” she added.

“The Spurs dominated the final quarter and could have won. The Sharpes really gave us a good fight and we are coming back for them,” promised Graham-Powell.

The action-packed encounter between Sharpes and Spurs was evenly contested in the first quarter as the winners took a narrow 13-12 lead at the first quarter break. The game was nicely poised as they went into the half-time break with the Sharpes leading 27-25.

It was a keen tussle in the third quarter as Spurs applied the pressure to draw level at 36-36 as a result of the shooting of Shantal Slater, who kept them in contention. However, Sharpes managed to regain the lead 38-36 at the final break.

The action increased and it was a ding-dong battle in the fourth and final quarter.

Spurs wasted an easy scoring opportunity which Sharpes capitalised on and went on to score through Taylor, before wasting an easy chance to go further ahead. Spurs got the last chance to tie the game with six seconds remaining, but the shooter lost possession of the ball inside the shooting circle to give Sharpes a thrilling 47-46 win.

Jodian French-Kentish scored 13 goals from 22 attempts for Sharpes, while for Spurs, Slater netted 41 goals from 48 attempts and Nicole Dixon added five goals from nine efforts.

Meanwhile, defending champions Kingston Humming Birds suffered their third straight defeat when they went down 40-34 to St Ann Orchids. Leading the scoring for Orchids was Shanice Beckford with 31 goals from 36 attempts, with Kayan Cousins adding nine goals from 17 efforts for the Birds. Quarterly scores for Orchids were 9-10, 19-19, and 28-27. Tallissa Brown was the most valuable player of the match.

In the other game St Catherine Racers chalked up their second win from three starts with a 34-29 win over Clarendon Gaters, who were losing for the first time, also from three matches. Anna-Kay Griffiths with 20 goals from 29 attempts, and Ladonna Lamonth with 14 goals from 18 attempts scored for Racers, while Kadie-Ann Dehaney with 18 goals from 19 attempts was the most valuable player of the match, while Apryl Thompson added nine goals from 13 efforts for the Gaters.

Sasha-Gaye Henry (centre) collects ball ahead of Trishana Henry of Spurs during their game on Friday evening at the Leila Robinson Courts.