ANOTHER chapter in the current Americas Federation of Netball Association (AFNA) championships, another sound thrashing for Guyana in the fourth round which was competed last Tuesday night at the Jean Pierre Complex, Port of Spain. Guyana senior women team that comprise many youthful members, suffered their fourth straight defeat in four consecutive days when they surrendered to the feisty Barbadians who toyed with them before completing the commanding 112-13 victory.
It was not surprising that the Barbadians felt they too had to make a statement of intent after the exploits of both Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica in the earlier rounds, with the former winning 104-10 and the latter 124-8.
Barbados’ goal shooter Laurel Browne was bang on target with her first three shots while goal attack Ricah Holder added one more before Guyana’s goal shooter Angeline MCarthy registered her first within the first three minutes of the first quarter.
Barbados soon got into a rhythm and dominated the rest of the session to finish with a 31-3 scoreline, setting the pattern for the remaining quarters which they won with scores of 27-1, 29-3 and 25-6.
Barbados had reached the 100-point mark (100-9) with seven minutes remaining in the last quarter but surprisingly they did not attempt to press home the advantage and attempt to overhaul Jamaica’s record score against the Guyanese the previous day.
Simonica Fanfair, who played as Guyana goal attack in the final quarter, was impressive with her aggression and desire to score, converting back-to-back shots, which denied Barbados from finishing with a 100 plus points win.
Fanfair was much more impressive than Shonette Estwick at that position and finished with four points from five attempts, while McCarthy, who played all four quarters, ended with eight from ten shots, while Guyana coach Laverne Fraser-Thomas revealed that Renee Anderson suffered an injury to her left knee and is doubtful for the rest of the series.
Browne, who played the first two quarters, scored 47 out of 50 shots while her replacement Nikita Piggott converted 19 of 20 attempts, goal attack Ricah Holder, who also played the first two quarters, scored 11 out of 16 while Shonica Wharton netted 35 from 40 attempts in the final two sessions.
Trinidad and Tobago continued their winning ways when they overpowered Grenada by a margin of 78-29, in a hot-tempered encounter on Court 2 while Barbadians humbled the Guyanese on Court 1.
T&T’s star shooter Anastacia Wilson was severely penalised for using arms and body contact but some of the decisions were questionable and the crowd expressed their displeasure when the Grenadians were not penalised or when they thought that Wilson was not the guilty party.
Nevertheless, Wilson finished as her team’s leading scorer with 48 points from 53 attempts while Jellene Richardson contributed 13 from 15 and outstanding centre Alicia Liverpool, as goal attack in final quarter; netted four out of four shots.
Regular goal attack Joelisa Cooper (13 out of 13), aggravated a knee (left) injury, sustained before the tournament started; when she overstretched to intercept an airborne pass during the aggressive exchanges in the third quarter.
She skidded on the newly-laid surface and buckled with pain and had to be stretched off and treated by the medics. Her recovery is crucial for the major encounters against Barbados (tomorrow) and Jamaica on Saturday.
For Grenada, goal attack Sharon Jeremiah finished with 20 points from 28 attempts, goal shooter Cecile Roberts eight from 13 and Christa Stephen one from two.
Meanwhile, Jamaica’s coach Oberon Pitterson rested some of her regular top players and used different combinations to build their confidence and rhythm for the tougher assignment against Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago.
The ‘Sunshine Girls’ maintain their winning streak as they romped to a comfortable 79-19 victory. Goal shooter Jhaneile Fowler topscored with 50 from 53 attempts while Shauntel Slater netted 13 from 14, goal attack Anna Kay Griffith converted nine points from 11 and Vanessa Walker seven from ten.