THE Kingston Humming Birds defeated the St Catherine Racers 54-38 to tie the Berger Elite League best-of-three series 1- 1 on Friday at the Leila Robinson Courts, setting the stage for an exciting title showdown this Friday at 6:30 pm.

The Kingston Humming Birds netted the first shot but it was the St Catherine Racers who ended the first quarter on top, 11-6.

Humming Birds captain and former national player Elaine Davis didn’t start too well, missing a couple of shots, but found her range to tie the scores at 13 before helping her team to establish a seven-point lead at the half, 24-17.

The Kingston Humming Birds never looked back as goal attack Thristina Harwood got in on the act with some crucial goals to end the third quarter 34-28.

It was evident that the Humming Birds wanted the victory more and with short swift passes, the ball was into the hands of their shooters quickly and they held on for a comfortable win in the end. Harwood netted 36 from 43 shots, while the evergreen Davis scored 18 from 23 attempts.

Humming Birds assistant coach Rohan Robinson said he was happy that his team remained in the title hunt by forcing a game three.

“Netball is a high-scoring game and to lose by 20 last week and come this week and win by such a margin, I am absolutely delighted that we are still in with a fighting chance to take the championships,” said Robinson.

“We decided today that we were not going to give as many turnovers as last time. Therefore, we were more circumspect in our passing, shooting and marking, and that reduced the turnovers significantly,” he added. Meanwhile, St Catherine Racers coach Christopher Smart said it’s back to the drawing board for his team.

“I really think the Kingston Humming Birds came out and played like the quality team I know they are. But I think my ladies were a bit flat tonight,” he explained.

“There are some things they should have worked on, but didn’t get the opportunity to do so. We definitely have to go back to the drawing board and see what went wrong,” said Smart.