Orchids, Racers meet in midweek BEL clash
ST ANN Orchids will look to continue blooming when they play against St Catherine Racers in Netball Jamaica’s premier championship, the Berger Elite League, at the Leila Robinson Courts at 7 tonight.
St Catherine Racers have lost twice in as many matches, while St Ann Orchids improved to win their second match 45-42 over St James Sharpes on Saturday after losing their opener against Kingston Hummingbirds, the defending champions.
“You learn more from a loss than a win, so we used game one to learn more, and that kind of helped to get us across the line in game two,” said Keyan ‘Shawn’ Murdock, St Ann Orchids’ assistant coach.
Goal attack Rebekah Robinson scored 23 of 32 tries to earn the MVP honours Saturday and will headline their charge with Simone Gordon, who scored 22 of 34, and Thristina Harwood.
“In our first two games, we didn’t work hard enough, especially in game one. We told the team they had to be willing to work harder than the opposition,” noted Murdock, who shares coaching responsibilities with Janet Guy.
FACING DIFFICULTIES
For today’s clash against St Catherine Racers, he observed: “They have their difficulties at the moment, in that they have not won a match as yet. But every game is really hard, so we need to ensure that when we step on court, we do so with much more intensity and eagerness for the ball.”
His opposite number, Christopher Smart, wants the Racers to buck their losing trend after going down to form team Manchester Spurs in their first match before buckling on Saturday in the fourth quarter to lose against Clarendon Gaters. They would have been somewhat disappointed with Saturday’s 42-38 defeat, given that they had led for more than three-quarters of the game.
Besides on-court play, Smart shared that his players have been strategising in group chat to work out the kinks.
“We have a WhatsApp group, and we have been discussing what we need to do, and the ladies are all optimistic. We need to refocus and see if we can win,” he said.
Goal shooter Tracy Francis, who scored 32 goals from 34 attempts on Saturday, will lead their charge, alongside captain Nardia Hanson, Sashalee Wallen and Zonasha Hinds.
The game is the only one on schedule following the postponement of the match between high-riding Manchester Spurs and Clarendon Gaters.