Francis encouraged by Spurs’ battling qualities
Connie Francis, head coach of Manchester Spurs, got a major takeaway from her team’s battling qualities as they held off a strong, late surge to outlast Clarendon Gaters 46-43 in the Berger Elite League netball match at the Leila Robinson Courts on Tuesday night.
“I’m glad for the win. It shows that we have determination because it was very close and the defensive team decided to keep pressing and we got the win,” declared Francis.
After ripping the Gaters apart 63-33 in their first match of Netball Jamaica’s semiprofessional series, the Spurs were expected to record another easy win in their march to the semi-finals. They appeared well on course after leading 139, 27-19 at half-time. However, Clarendon Gaters began clawing their way back, and by the end of the third, were down 30-35, before continuing their resurgence in the final quarter.
“It was a really good game from start to finish. We put up a fight. However, Spurs were more competitive, and their decision-making was just a little bit better than ours, which is why they came out with the win,” noted Shadian Hemmings, captain of Clarendon Gaters.
Gezelle Allison led Spurs’ shooting with 28 goals from 37 attempts, while Annakay Griffiths, 12 of 19, and Nicole Dixon, six of 10, scored the other goals.
Amanda Pinkney, 19 of 25; Shadian Hammings, 13 of 18; and Mischa Creary, 11 from 14, scored for Clarendon Gaters.
Manchester Spurs lead the round-robin competition with 21 points, followed by Kingston Hummingbirds, 18 points from seven; St Ann Orchids, 10 from seven; Clarendon Gaters, nine from eight, St. Catherine Racers, seven points from eight matches and St James Sharpes, three points from eight contests.
All the teams will play 10 games in the preliminaries, and the top four will move into the semi-final play-offs.
St Ann Orchids enhanced their semifinal chances, by winning Monday night’s other game 58-49 over St James Sharpes.
Simone Gordon, with 37 goals from 44 attempts, and Thristina Harwood, 21 of 27, scored for St Ann Orchids, while Kestina Sturridge, 28 goals from 37 tries, and Vanessa Jones, 21 of 23, scored for St James Sharpes.