SVG only better than Canada

The Executive of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Netball Association will have to go back to the drawing board to find a solution as to how to stop the slide in the sport.{{more}}

Last week Friday night, the last day of competition of the Americas Federation of Netball Associations(AFNA) tournament, this country suffered one of its worst defeats in its recent Netball history, losing to St. Lucia 38 to 40.

The Vincentians, needing to salvage some pride, after their poor showing versus Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, came out flat footed, and St. Lucia ran away with the first quarter, 15-8.

A second quarter wake up saw St. Vincent and the Grenadines establish a one goal lead at the half time, 23-22.

The ding dong tussle continued with St. Lucia gaining the ascendancy with 32-30 advantage going into the final fifteen minutes. St. Lucia though, made fewer mistakes in the last quarter, and held on to a win.

For St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Joanna Christopher scored 18 from 25, Leanna Lewis 16 from 21, and Skiddy Francis Crick, 4 from 5. For St. Lucia, Shem Maxwell sank 34 from 43, and Roxanne Snyder 6 from 12.

The defeat was compounded by the fact that of the twenty-two seeded teams in the World Netball Rankings, St. Lucia is not ranked. St. Vincent and the Grenadines currently sits at number 12 in the world rankings, but that is likely to slip.

The defeat against St. Lucia meant that the Vincentians recorded four consecutive losses in the Tournament.

The Vincentians’ lone triumph was against Canada.

In the title match that night, Jamaica defeated arch-rivals Trinidad and Tobago, 53-32, to finish the Tournament as the only unbeaten team, and won every match by at least a 20-goal margin.

In the Final, Jamaica had quarter scores of 18-7, 28-16 and 42-25 before eventually winning by 21 goals.

Captain Simone Forbes hit 27 goals from 30 attempts, Crystal Gordon scored 20 from 28 tries, Christina Solmon scored a perfect three goals from three attempts and Vanessa Walker scored three from four tries.

Francis Crick, who although this country’s captain, had sporadic appearances in the Tournament, and ended among the top shooters, placing third, with an 85.5 percent accuracy, scoring 59 of her 69 attempts.

Lydia Bishop of Barbados had a 90.8 per cent accuracy with 69 goals from 76 attempts. Laurel Browne, also of Barbados was second with 113 from 126, finishing with 87.6 percent.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines was fourth in the defensive statistics, conceding 231 from 303 attempts. Jamaica was the Best Defensive Team on show, followed by Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados.

The host docked in third with its shooting accuracy, putting away 179 goals from their 228 attempts, with a 78.51 percent conversion rate.

Barbados topped this category with a conversion rate 0f 87.4, and Jamaica second, 81.71 percent.

Anastacia Wilson of Trinidad and Tobago recorded the best average per match, 30.

Trinidad and Tobago finished second in the Tournament, ahead of Barbados, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Canada.(RT)