Big guns off to strong start in Intercol netball

Local netball fans are in store for exciting and competitive netball for the next six weeks, as last Saturday, most of the country's top players were on show when defending champion, Mico 'A' and former champions GC Foster College 'A' got their Intercol campaign off on winning notes.

The pair got their wins over the University of West Indies (UWI) and the University of Technology (Utech) respectively.

Most of the payers who participated for Jamaica in the recent friendly series wins over Trinidad and Tobago and England turned out for their schools, while those who will feature for the Sunshine Girls in the upcoming Fast5 Championships, also benefitted from some good match practise.

Playing away, GC Foster College stopped Utech 55-51 in an epic battle, where Utech led for most of the way.

Led by Goal Attack Khadijah Williams, Goal Shooter Shanice Beckford and Goal Defence Jodian Ward, the home team controlled the first three quarters with scores of 14-13, 29-26 and 42-38. However, GC Foster College, which featured Goal Shooter Hasana Williams, Goal Attack Gezelle Allison, Wing Attack Kestina Sturridge and the experienced Paula Thompson at centre in their line-up, fought back strongly in the final stanza, outscoring their opponent 17-9 for their four points win.

Mico were in a no-nonsense mood at home against the Shamera Sterling-led UWI team.

Despite having national captain, Jhaniele Fowler on the bench for three quarters, Mico, with Goal Shooter Nicole Dixon in tandem with National Under 21 player, Mischa Creary at Goal Attack and Kadiean Ann Dehaney playing the Goal-Keeping role, proved too strong for the Phyllis Thompson-coached UWI team.

Mico led 12-5 and 20-12 after the first two quarters, before pulling away 39-17 and 52-25 for their big win.

With several of the players now on duty at the Fast5 championships in Australia this week, the competition among the seniors will take a break and will resume next Saturday with the feature game being the clash between home team GC Foster 'A' and Mico 'A'.The other game will see UWI hosting Utech. Both the Intermediate and Junior leagues also got underway last Saturday with defending champions Mico and GC Foster College having easy wins. Mico 'B' which has won the Intermediate League for the past five years, had a big 81-7 win over Shortwood, while Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) had an easy 13-2 win over Exelsior Community College.

Defending junior champion GC Foster 'C' were too good for Trench Town Polythetiic Centre after a 41-13 win. In other games, Mico 'C' swamped St. Joseph Teacher's College 67-1 and CASE got the better of Edna Manley 15-12.