SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — GOLD medal favourites, Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls will be seeking their second-consecutive victory at the Central America and Caribbean (CAC) Games when they take on minnows the Cayman Islands here today.

Game time is 2:30 pm (3:30 pm Jamaica time).

The Jamaica team, which only includes five players who will be attending this month’s Netball World Cup (NWC) tournament in South Africa, recorded an easy 62-34 victory over Barbados in their opening match on Monday. Captain Adean Thomas, Crystal Plummer, Kimone Shaw, Rebekah Robinson, and Abigail Sutherland are the five players who will be attending the NWC.

Thomas said they are delighted to have secured their first victory in the competition and are now looking forward to today’s matchup against the Cayman Islands.

“I am feeling good because the girls came out and they performed well, and so I am very happy that we got the first win out of the way,” said Thomas.

“Come tomorrow [today] we will just fix the little errors that we had in the game against Barbados and work hard for our third game against St Vincent and Grenadines,” she said.

The netball competition is being contested for the first time in the history of the CAC Games, and Thomas added that the Jamaicans want to be the first team to win the gold medal at the championships.

“We want the gold medal. And we are definitely going for it because this is the first time that netball is being played in the CAC Games so we want to work hard to win that gold — and that is what we will be doing here,” she said.

The Sunshine Girls’ victory was never in doubt as they outclassed the Bajans in all departments on the court. In fact the Jamaican team, which has Nicole Aiken-Pinnock and Phyllis Thompson as co-coaches, led 19-6 at the end of the first quarter and 34-15 at half-time. Goal shooter Simone Gordon was very impressive for the Jamaicans in the first half, netting 25 of the team’s 34 goals in the two quarters.

Goalkeeper Abigail Linton and goal defence Kimone Shaw also had an excellent first half, for the young Jamaicans made several interceptions to limit the Bajans scoring in the match.

The Jamaican coaches made several changes to the team at the start of the third stanza, but despite this they still managed to outscore their opponents 13-8 to take a 47-23 lead.

The Sunshine Girls, who were much quicker than their opponents throughout the match, also had a very solid fourth quarter as they romped to a very comfortable victory.

Gordon received solid support from Amanada Pinkney, who shot 15 goals from 18 attempts; Shadine Bartley 12 from 15; and Rebekah Robinson nine from 10. Latonia Blackman led the scoring for Barbados with a perfect 16 goals from 16 attempts.