Sunshine Girls beat Malawi to make it two in a row at Fast5
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Another last-minute six pointer from Gezelle Allison rescued Jamaica for a 41-37 win for the Sunshine Girls over Malawi at the Fast5 World Series at the Christchurch Arena in Christchurch, New Zealand on Friday (Jamaica time).
It was Jamaica’s second win of the first day of the two-day championships after beating holders Australia by two goals, 38-36, in the opener.
READ: Sunshine Girls beat Australia in Fast5 opener
Sloppy ball handling by the Jamaicans allowed the Africans to stay in the game and lead late before Allison came up with another game winner as time ran out, this time with just six seconds left on the clock.
Jamaica led by six goals, 12-6, after the first quarter but Malawi rallied in the second quarter to cut the deficit to one goal, 24-23, and then took over the lead, 32-30, after a low scoring third quarter.
Jamaica, who lost all their games played last year, trailed 35-37 with less than 10 seconds to go before Allison, who led all scorers with 24 goals, including another six-pointer in the third quarter, buried her shot from behind the three point line in the powerplay which is in effect in the final 90 seconds of each quarter.
The veteran, Romelda Aiken-George scored 13 goals from 12 attempts while Amanda Pinkney and Rhea Dixon both scored two goals.
Joyce Mvula led Malawi with 18 goals from 19 attempts while Jessie Mazengera scored 15 from eight attempts.
Jamaica will play their third and final game of the first day, against South Africa, starting at 12:45am Saturday morning, Jamaica time.
-Paul A Reid