BRIDGETOWN—Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls produced a convincing performance to trounce hosts Barbados and clinch the Caribbean Netball Association Jean Pierre Championship at the National Stadium on Friday night. In the long anticipated clash of the unbeaten teams, Jamaica started strongly and never relinquished the advantage, as they stormed to an emphatic 35-21 result.
Their success was propelled by goal shoot Lori Daley who scored 24 goals from 32 attempts while Zandra Cohen provided support with 11 from 12 attempts. For Barbados, goal attack Brianna Holder scored 11 from 19 attempts while the usually prolific Tower Lorde was a perfect eight from eight.
Jamaica threatened to put the game out of sight from the first quarter when they stormed to an 11-2 lead at the first break. In the second quarter, they out-scored their opponents 9-5 to lead 20-7 at the half-time whistle. Jamaica again dominated in the third quarter thanks to Cohen, who netted seven from seven while Daley sank four of her five attempts.
They were virtually assured of victory leading 31-12 at the start of the final quarter, and even though they were outscored 9-5 by the Barbadians, the Caribbean powerhouses were never in any real danger of losing. Jamaica ended on 35 points, four clear of the second placed Barbados, while Dominica was a distant third on 22—ahead of St Lucia courtesy of goal average.
Grenada and Bermuda were fifth and sixth respectively after finishing on 17 points each, with Trinidad and Tobago second from last on eight points. Antigua and Barbuda finished without a win or a point. Dominica’s third place finish came after they came from behind and produced a thrilling final quarter effort to edge Bermuda 21-20 in a close contest.
They were down 3-6 after the first quarter, 10-11 at half-time and had fallen behind by five, 12-17, at the start of the final period. But goal shoot Celena Langlaise came up huge when it mattered, sinking eight goals from nine attempts, as Dominica outscored the Bermudians 9-3 to snatch victory.
Overall, Langlaise finished with 20 from 25 attempts overall while for Bermuda, Donnauri Robinson shot 15 from 21.
Meanwhile, Grenada trounced the luckless Antigua 47-8, behind Brianna Durant’s 21 from 26 attempts and fellow goal shoot Carlene Alexander’s 21 from 28 attempts.
In the other game of the evening, St Lucia beat T&T 31-18.
Results
Jamaica def Barbados 35-21
Dominica def Bermuda 21-20
Grenada def Antigua & Barbuda 47-8
St Lucia def Trinidad & Tobago 31-18.
CMC