WHILE they added points to their overall tally, Guyana’s senior women netballers continued their disappointing performances in the Americas Federation of Netball Association (AFNA) Championships being staged at the Jean Pierre Complex, Port of Spain. Guyana’s miserable outing to the senior regional competition continued unabated with a fifth consecutive defeat, this time to the United States of America (USA) who inflicted a massive 82-25 whipping on the Guyanese.
Although USA led both sessions with 17-8 and 19-6, the Guyanese team were putting up stern resistance and there were more direct passes within the shooting circle which allowed reliable goal shooter Angeline McCarthy to have more shots at the basket than in all the previous matches.
McCarthy converted five of her eight attempts in the first quarter and then netted another six in the second while her goal attack Simonica Fanfair added one from three and two from four shots during the same period.
Recognising that the Guyanese lacked the skills and abilities to cope with the pressure at this level of competition, the fitter and more skilful Americans raised their intensity and pulled away as easy winner with 26-7 and 20-4 for the other two quarters.
At the end of another agonising struggle to overcome stronger opponents; McCarthy finished with 18 points from 27 attempts while Fanfair netted seven from 11.
Topscorers for the American team were Camille Henry who converted 35 out of 37 attempts while Swasha Shaw-Perkins registered 39 from 50 shots.
In the other matches contested on Wednesday evening, defending champions Trinidad and Tobago maintained their unbeaten streak with a commanding performance against St Lucia, which is being coached by former Jamaica’s national senior coach Connie Francis.
In an early morning play-off, the St Lucians had triumphed over Bermuda by a convincing 68-26 margin but they were no match for the ‘Calypso Girls’ who delighted their hometown supporters with a comfortable 63-28 victory.
T&T’s goal shooter Anastascia Wilson netted 34 from 39 attempts and was well supported by Jellene Richardson who scored 29 from 32 attempts.
Barbados also kept their unbeaten record intact when they crushed Grenada 90-19 while Canada beat Bermuda 49-31.
For the Barbadians who faced Jamaica last night and will take on Trinidad and Tobago in a major clash tonight, Laurel Browne and Nikita Piggott were the principal scorers with 41 from 43 and 44 from 53 attempts respectively.