Jamaica sweep England in U21 netball
JAMAICA defeated England 41-32 to sweep their three-match Tri-Nation Under-21 Netball Series 3-0 at the Dr Donald Sangster Auditorium at the University of Technology (UTech) on Thursday night.
By virtue of beating England, the Jamaicans ended the series unbeaten by winning all five matches, three against England and two against Trinidad and Tobago. The Trinidadians and England were scheduled to play their final match last night.
Jamaica’s head coach, Oberon Pitterson-Nattie said the local girls played well throughout the series and she was very pleased.
“We were tested for the first time in the series by England in Thursday night’s encounter, as we came under tough challenge from the visitors. This is the type of game we would like to have, tough competition and we came under pressure,” Pitterson-Nattie said.
She said England played well and this is the type of tough matches they would like to have to see where the players are and how they can handle the pressure. “More improvements need to be done especially in the defensive area.
“England made a lot of adjustments with their team and gave us a good fight, but our players were tremendous throughout,” she said.
Meanwhile, England’s coach Colette Thompson said this is the best performance they have played against Jamaica and it shows that the players are improving a lot.
“We made too many errors in the first quarter and missed too many easy shots. We had anticipated a very tough series with Jamaica as they are very good. The team needs to do more speed work and get the ball quicker to the shooters,” said Thompson.
Jamaica took a 11-7 lead at the end of the first quarter, increased it to 25-16 at half time, before maintaining the cushion at the end of the third quarter, 34-25.
Goal-shooter Shantal Slater scored 27 goals from 41 attempts and goal-attack Shanice Beckford added 11 goals from 20 efforts for Jamaica, while for England, goal-shooter Alice Travis scored 16 goals from 21 attempts, goal-attack Rachel Shaw netted eight from 11, and Shaunagh Craig, eight goals from 13 efforts.
