GUYANA’S inexperienced national senior netball team tasted defeat once again in the second round Americas Federation Netball Association (AFNA) Championships at the Jean Pierre Complex, Port of Spain on Sunday. The Guyanese team are paying a big price to gain experience at the higher level and hopefully, the young impressionable players would not be psychologically affected at the end of the tournament.
Facing up to St Lucia, the fourth-best team at the 2010 Championships, Guyana succumbed in a 17-85 defeat to the islanders whose cohesion and strategic movement of the ball created 102 scoring opportunities overall.
The Guyanese players enjoyed more scoring opportunities than they had against defending champions Trinidad and Tobago who won the opening encounter by a 102-10 margin.
Goal shooter Angeline McCarthy was once again the main scorer for Guyana and she converted twelve shots out of seventeen while goal attack Semonica Fanfair supported with four points from six shots. Renee Anderson made one from two shots while Roby Thomas fluffed her only shot at the basket.
On the other hand, the St Lucian dominated all four quarters with leads of 24-3, 48-6, 64-12 and the final score of 85-17.
Their goal shooter Indira Lurenain led them to a huge victory and emerged as their leading scorer with 41 points from 46 attempts. Goal attack Shem Maxwell collected 23 points from 31 attempts while Glalta Gabriel scored 16 from 19 attempts and Melissa Alfred five from six.
This was St Lucia’s first victory after they experienced a 72-31 loss to Jamaica who maintained their winning streak with a comprehensive 107-13 victory over Grenada in their second-round encounter on Sunday.
Having seen Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados teams cross the hundred-point mark on Saturday; Jamaica decided that they must stamp their class and the intention of regaining the ultimate regional netball crown. And they did so with a compelling performance that revealed that they are bent on living up to their international rating of being the fourth-best team in the world.
In fact, they collected the bronze medal at the last World Championships, staged in New Zealand where Australia beat the New Zealanders to take back the global crown. Jamaica had beaten England in the bronze medal match but the Jamaicans have dropped in the ranking because England had surprised both Australia and New Zealand in a ‘Super Series’ in England last year.
It was a powerhouse display by the Jamaicans whose agility and all-round tactics skills proved too much for the Grenadians who were blown away and conceded defeat by a margin of 94 points, the same as Guyana against T&T in the opening round.
The ‘Reggae Girls’ were too much for the ‘Spice Girls’ and with their second consecutive victory, the Jamaicans now slightly ahead of the T&T team who also enjoyed a comfortable 55-28 victory over Canada in their second-round clash at the same venue on Sunday evening.
The six-foot, goal shooter Anastasia Wilson, who towered over Guyana’s pint-size defenders and scored 88 points against Guyana; did not enjoy the same freedom against taller opponents and finished with 39 points from 45 attempts while goal attack Joelisa Cooper netted 14 from 16 attempts and Jellene Richardson two from  two.
At the quarters the scores were 13-7, 27-13, 44-20 and 55-28.
For the ‘Maple Leaf Girls’, goal shooter Sherry-Ann Dunn scored 17 out of 23 attempts and goal attack Sabrina Versteeg 11 from 19.
Meanwhile, Barbados also maintained their winning ways with a hard-fought 52-22 victory over the United States of America. The first three quarters were 13-6, 25-11 and 38-15.
Goal shooter Laurel Brown converted 34 out of 39 shots while gaol attack Ricah Holder scored five from six attempts and her substitute Nikita Piggott 13 from 17.
For the Americans, goal shooter Swasha Sawh scored nine from 14 attempts while goal attack Camile Henry had 12 from 20 and Roenish Davis Francis 1 from 1.