Racers, Orchids share spoils in BEL clash
ST CATHERINE Racers were left ruing their chances after a nerveracking 39-all draw with St Ann Orchids in Netball Jamaica’s Berger Elite League at the Leila Robinson courts on Wednesday night. Without a win in their first two encounters, the Racers were desperate for victory and looked likely to complete the task after separating themselves from their opponents in an encounter that remained dead even for most parts. The exciting and very competitive match was tied 1010 at the end of the first quarter and Racers led at the end of the other two 24-23 at half-time and 32-30 at the end of the third.
Added to that, St Catherine Racers opened up the biggest lead of the night, a five-point gap, and after high-scorer Tracy Barnes missed the final shot, they even had a big opportunity for another one, with goal defence Adean Thomas called for a foul-up court and Vangelee Williams left to defend the two shooters. However, the in-bound pass was bad, and quick-thinking Williams intercepted.
“We let it get away from us. We should’ve won that game, we gave up too many balls. We’re only on one point. I mean, three games, no win, it’s not good so we’ve to refocus and come back for Saturday’s game,” said Racers captain, Nardia Hanson, who believed they should have been “patient with the ball”.
“I think we were trying to force the ball too much on the shooter instead of playing the ball in front, keeping it away from Vangelee, so it’s all (about) an error here, error there, mainly in the attack,” she explained.
“A draw is not bad, but we really wanted the win. I just think in our attack, we were really undisciplined. When we had that lead initially, when we were up by five, we should’ve kept our composure. But all is not lost, we just have to get ready for the next game,” Hanson noted.
Barnes was the game’s topscorer, sinking 37 of St Catherine Racers’ goals from 44 attempts. Goal attack Hanson accounted for the other two goals, from 10 tries.
St Ann Orchids had won and lost once in two prior games and their captain, national defender Vangelee Williams, also believed they should have won.
TOUGH GAME
“It was a tough game out there because we kept making the same errors and we weren’t shooting as well as we hoped. Racers came out and fought, and I’m proud of my team, that we kept it close, and it’s just sad that we didn’t come away with the win tonight,” Williams observed.
Commenting on their main deficiency, Williams said: “Shoot, we just needed to shoot because we were getting the ball in the circle, but we were missing a lot, especially in the third and last quarters. Our shots weren’t sinking, and that cost us the game.”
Goal shooter Simone Gordon had most goals for St Ann Orchids, netting 26 of 38 attempts, while goal attack Thristina Harwood scored 13 of 17.
“We got a draw, so I guess we’ve to come back and build for our next game on Saturday,” said Williams.