Paul-Andre Walker, Staff ReporterJAMAICA'S YOUNG Sunshine Girls evened up their three-game Under-21 netball friendly series against New Zealand with a 43-40 victory last night at the National Indoor Sports Centre.
The Jamaicans improved on their turnover rate and managed to fight off numerous runs at a second quarter lead that had been achieved thanks to the exploits of 15-year-old Romelda Aiken.
Aiken led Jamaica's scoring with 28 goals from 30 attempts after lifting her team from an eight-all first quarter to a 21-14 lead in the second.
New Zealand rallied in the third
quarter through the efforts of their tall goal shooter Maria Tutaia, who ended with 30 goals from 35 attempts and brought the Silver Ferns to within three points (30-27) of the Jamaican total.
The final quarter brought worrisome looks from the Jamaican audience, with New Zealand showing the frailty of Jamaica's lead by scoring goals in quick succession.
Jamaica did well in slowing the pace of the game though and did better at
getting the ball in to Aiken, who was moving better within the shooting arc.
After the game, the New Zealand coach, Te Aroha Keenan, attributed the absence of two players and too many errors as the reason for the loss.
"Today we had the game. We didn't have two players from yesterday's game, we made the decision not to play them and there's still too many errors. If we are to have a chance tomorrow, we have to eliminate the errors," Keenan said.
Jamaica's coach, Joan Cargill, thought her team made better decisions last night.
"Last time we had to work on our decision-making and if you notice, we had them playing in longer spells. They stuck to the task and it paid off," said Cargill.
The final game of the series takes place tonight at 6:00
