Sunshine Girls place sixth at Fast5 tournament

JAMAICA’S netballers failed to improve on last year’s fifth-place finish at the Fast5 Netball World series, which ended yesterday at the Wolfbrook Arena in Christchurch, New Zealand. The Sunshine Girls ended at the bottom of the table in the six-team tournament.

After three defeats in their opening matches, the Jamaicans fared no better in their next two first-round matches on the second day. They suffered two big losses, going down 56-13 to eventual champions Australia and losing 43-26 to Uganda.

In the playoff for fifth and sixth against England, the Sunshine Girls, who, earlier, were beaten 33-15 by England in the first round, showed more fight this time around. They lost by two points, 38-36.

Jamaica led after the first three quarters, 6-4, 16-14, and 29-28. However, they were outscored 10-7 by the English team in the final quarter. Goal shooter Amanda Pinkney, with nine goals from 14 attempts, and goal attack Shadine Bartley, with two from four, were the leading scorers for Jamaica.

Defending champions Australia, who were unbeaten at the tournament, defeated home team New Zealand in a come-from-behind 34-30 win to make it three titles in a row. In a clash of African nations for third and fourth, Uganda defeated South Africa 46-42.

Co-coach of the Jamaican team, Dalton Hinds, thought they did fairly well despite not winning a game.

“Both coaches felt Jamaica’s performance was good in parts,” Hinds said. He added that they would have had a more consistent performance if they had had more preparation time. Nardia Hanson and Hinds were the two co-coaches of the team.

Hinds also praised the on and off court comradeship of his inexperienced team.