Jamaica’s captain Jhaneile Fowler produced a scintillating shooting performance to guide the Sunshine Girls to a comfortable 59-48 victory over defending champions New Zealand in their top-of-the-table Pool G match at the Netball World in Cape Town, South Africa on Thursday.

Fowler, who is rated as the best shooter in the world, scored a perfect 49 goals from 49 attempts to lead the Jamaicans to their fifth consecutive victory at the championships.

Goal attack Shanice Beckford chipped in with nine goals from 10 attempts while Romelda Aiken-George added one goal from three attempts for the Sunshine Girls.

The Sunshine Girls, who are ranked fourth in the world, two places below New Zealand in the world rankings, started the match very confidently as they jumped out to a 15-11 lead at the end of the first quarter. However, despite being outscored 12-11 in the second quarter, the Jamaicans managed to eke a 26-23 lead at half time.

Fowler, who has been having a superb championships for the Sunshine Girls, netted 23 goals of her team in the first two quarters of the match. Both sides battled neck and neck in the third period as they treated the fans inside to some excellent display of netball. At the end of the quarter, the Sunshine Girls maintained a 41-39 lead despite being outscored 16-15 by New Zealand.

However, the Jamaicans came out blazing in the fourth period, as their defensive unit led by Shamera Sterling, along with Jodi-Ann Ward and Latanya Wilson shut down the New Zealand offensive team by holding them to just nine goals in the quarter. The Sunshine Girls offensive team led by Fowler netted 18 goals in the final period as they romped home to a comfortable victory.

Maia Wilson topscored for New Zealand with 31 goals from 33 attempts. Jamaicans will now face Australia in Saturday’s semifinal of the competition.