Girls whip England Roses to cop Sunshine series
JAMAICA recovered from a lukewarm start Saturday evening to thrash England 58-39 and take an unassailable two-nil lead in the three-Test LASCO Sunshine netball series.
England Roses led briefly during the first quarter at National Indoor Sports Centre in Kingston, but the hosts, powered by captain and top goal shooter Jhaniele Fowler, recovered to go ahead 15-11 at the end of that period.
Jamaica, the Commonwealth Games bronze medallists, were up 29-19 at the half-time break and later 42-32 at the end of the third quarter.
Fowler hit 45 goals from 47 attempts, while goal attack Shanice Beckford was nine from 12.
Kadeen Corbin hit 24 from 31 for the Commonwealth Games champions.
The Sunshine Girls had won Thursday’s opening match 55-43, leaving open the possibility of a 3-0 whitewash. The final match is scheduled for today at the same venue.
Jamaica’s Head Coach Marvette Anderson praised her team’s stifling defensive work.
“The team played exceptionally well defensively. We have been working on our defence, our concentration, [and] our decision-making…and I’m happy to see that we were able to execute tonight,” she told reporters during a post-game interview.
Anderson said her players handled themselves well, after England began brightly.
“That’s how netball is; you’re going to have teams… [going on dominant] runs. We expected them to come out strong, but we were ready and equal to the task,” said the Jamaica coach.
England Captain Jade Clarke, while downplaying the impact of her side not being at full strength for this series, noted deficiencies at the offensive end.
“We’re disappointed with the score, but we’ll take the positives. I think in defence we got a lot more gains, but we’ve got to look at our attack because we are too loose with the ball,” Clarke said.
England Roses matched Jamaica for the opening part of the first quarter and even led for brief moments, but as the Sunshine Girls settled they created a four-goal lead at the first break.
The hosts turned the defensive screws thereafter and lengthened their advantage to 10 goals by half-time.
Over the final two quarters the Sunshine Girls, looking the fitter of the teams, rammed home the advantage to win convincingly.
