SYDNEY, Australia, CMC – Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls once again faltered at the semi-final hurdle when they went down to World number one, Australia, at the penultimate stage of the Netball World Cup yesterday.
In a virtual repeat of the last World Cup four years ago, Jamaica yet again missed out on a place in today’s final when they crashed to a 67-56 defeat at Allphones Arena.
They trailed 26-35 at half-time but had pulled within seven goals at 42-49, at the start of the final quarter. However, the Aussies out-scored them 18-14 down the stretch, to clinch a spot in the final against New Zealand.
The defeat for the Jamaicans left them in yet another clash for third place against England who were beaten 50-39 by the Silver Ferns.
Meanwhile, Trinidad and Tobago edged Scotland 57-56 in an exciting extra-time affair to set up a clash for ninth place with Samoa while Barbados defeated Singapore 56-39 to seal a 13th place game with Zambia. All games have been scheduled for today.
Jamaica, however, took the spotlight with their quest to reach their first ever World Cup final and break the jinx of falling at the semi-final stage for the fifth straight tournament.
They were competitive in a tight first quarter to trail 15-17 at the end but lost momentum in the second to be down by nine goals at the half.
Jamaica had the worst of the early exchanges to fall behind 1-5 after just three minutes but sparked an impressive run to claw back to 8-10 with just over seven minutes left in the quarter. Australia re-grouped, however, and opened up a 15-10 lead to finish the quarter strongly.
Needing to hit back in the second quarter, Jamaica found themselves stymied by a clinical Australia whose shooters missed just one attempt as they took control of the contest.
Caitlin Bassett was perfect en route to scoring 49 from 52 attempts overall while goal attack Natalie Medhurst, who missed the only attempt during the quarter, finished with 18 from 19.
Jamaica bounced back to win the third quarter, 16-14, as their shooters boasted 100 per cent accuracy. However, when it counted most in the final quarter, they failed to produce and had been out-scored 11-7 by the half-way point.
For Jamaica, Romelda Aiken led with 33 goals from 36 attempts while Shanice Beckford supported with 14 from 16.
In the other playoff games, T&T recovered from a horrible third quarter to seal a narrow victory. They led 26-21 at the half but were out-scored 16-7, to trail 33-37 at the start of the final quarter.
T&T won the quarter to level the scores at 47 at the end of full-time before edging home in extra time.
Goal shooter Samantha Wallace came up big for her side with 49 from 52 while Scotland were led by Lynsey Gallagher with 31 from 40.
Barbados, meanwhile, experienced little problem as they cruised to an easy win over Singapore, with Faye Sealy shooting 43 from 49 attempts.
They led 30-19 at the half and never looked back.
