St Catherine upset Queen’s
DESPITE the presence of their three national senior representatives, who just returned from the Fast5 Netball World Championships in New Zealand this week, Queen’s could not deny St Catherine in the feature Group II senior netball second- round encounter, at the Leila Robinson netball courts yesterday.
The Phyllis Thompson- coached St Catherine shocked the defending champions 29- 24 for their third consecutive win to move on top of the group with nine points, with two round of matches to go.
Two of the three top players, goal attack Khadijah Williams and goalkeeper Shamerea Sterling, were inserted into the Queen’s starting line- up, but it was evident that both were jet- lagged following their arrival in the island the previous day, as they looked a shadow of themselves.
Not fazed by their presence, it was a very confident St Catherine that started the game, as goal defence Jamilla Tulloch along with goalkeeper Alexis Francis were in brilliant form, breaking up several attacks to race into a 6- 3 first- quarter lead.
St Catherine turned up the pressure in the third quarter and continued to break up the attacks from their opponents as they stretched their lead to 20- 13 at the end of this stanza. With their other national senior player, Shanice Beckford, coming into the game in the final quarter, it proved to be the best stanza for the defending champions, as they outscored their opponents 11- 9, but it was a bit late as the Spanish Town team held on for a good 29- 24 win.
“This was a good win for the team as I told them that we wanted to cement our semi- final berth today ( yesterday) and not to wait until our next match on Friday. We were not fazed by the several national players on the Queen’s team as this is a team game and if there is no cohesion, you will not be successful,” said winning coach Thompson. In other senior matches, former champions St Andrew High remained unbeaten in Group I, as they defeated Mona 26- 21 for their third win in a row. Also remaining unbeaten in the group were Holy Childhood, who played to a 25- 25 tie with Camperdown. Also winning were St Jago High, who defeated Alpha 37- 23, Norman Manley who stopped Ardenne 36- 26 and St Hugh’s who dismissed Excelsior 38- 18.
The penultimate set of matches in the second round will be played at the same venue tomorrow.