Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

THE SUNSHINE Girls will have to improve on their ball-handling skills in order for them to enhance their world ranking, says coach Connie Francis.

"I wasn't pleased with the way we handled the ball because we are still struggling to keep the ball in our possession.

In order to improve our ranking, we have to learn how to take care of the ball," said Francis, following the Jamaicans' 53-38 win over South Africa in the National Commercial Bank (NCB) Sunshine Savers Tri-nation series on Tuesday night at the National Indoor Sports Complex.

Sloppy defence

"I thought that our defence started out solidly because we only allowed 13 goals in the first half. However, they were a bit sloppy, letting in 14 goals in the third quarter and this is not acceptable," Francis said.

The coach said that despite the high number of inexperienced players on the team, the team should have handled the situation a lot better.

"I think that our defence really struggled and we have to find a way to counteract their (the South Africans) zone defence," Francis explained.

The Jamaicans were led to victory by ace goal shooter Romelda Aiken, who scored a game-high 38 goals from 43 attempts to push the Sunshine Girls into tonight's final where they will face the winners of last match between Trinidad and Tobago and South Africa.

The Jamaicans took control of Tuesday night's match from the opening quarter as they led 14-7 at the end of the period.

Outscoring the visitors

They continued their dominance in the second period by outscoring the visitors 14-6 to go into the halftime break with a 28-13 lead.

However, the South Africans, who are ranked ninth in the world, came back in the second quarter through goal shooter Claudia Basson who sank six of her team-high 19 goals in the final three minutes of the quarter to cut the deficit to 40-27.

The Sunshine Girls increased the tempo of the game in the final quarter with quick passing and off-the-ball movement, which led to a number of easy shots by goal attack Simone Forbes down the stretch as they romped home for a comfortable win.

Forbes finished the match with 15 goals from 17 tries.