Merrick Andrews, Staff Reporter
JAMAICA's Under-21 netballers came up short in the final of the World Youth Netball Championships in Cardiff Wales where they met defending champions Australia.
The fast-paced Aussies led from start to finish to beat the Jamaicans, who were contesting their first final at this level, 58-47 in a thrilling match at the Cardiff International Indoor Arena.
The Australians swamped the Jamaicans dubbed the Sunshine Girls with quarterly leads of 15-14, 33-23, 44-37.
Janet Guy, coach of Jamaica said she was pleased with the performance of the team as it was their first time in the finals.
"We played extremely well. However, we lost the game in the second quarter, I think we panicked a bit then," Guy said referring to the period in which the Jamaicans were outscored 18-7. They never recovered from that blow.
The six-foot-six-inch shooter, Edmarie Lumbsley, created problems for the Australians with her long conversions against their defenders and netted 31 goals from 34 attempts for a 91.2 per cent accuracy.
Nineteen-year-old goal attack Simone Forbes shot 16 from 17 attempts (94.1 per cent)
For the Australians, Christy Doyle who switched from goal attack to goal shooter for Cynna Neele in the last quarter, netted 24 from 27 attempts (88.9 per cent). Retiring from that period, Neele scored 23 from 25 (92 per cent), while Jane Altschwager who filled the goal attack position, garnered 11 of 13 attempts.
The Aussies through their slick passes, swift and accurate interceptions went on a scoring spree in the early stages of the game, where they led 6-2 in just over two minutes of the match.
Jamaica began to find their rhythm a few minutes before the break, but fell one point short (14-15) of leading at the end of the first quarter.
Lumbsley tipped-off a long shot to level the scores at 15-15, then scored one more shortly after, to place the Jamaicans in the lead for the first time (16-15). However, the lead was short-lived as the Aussies took control of possession and shoot to a commanding 10-point lead (33-27) at half-time.
The third quarter was very intense which saw two of the Jamaican players receiving minor injuries.
Injury time was called by the Jamaicans within three minutes of the quarter for centre Tasha Morgan who twisted her right angle while trying to make an interception.
After the resumption of the time-out the Jamaicans found a new gear as they proceeded to clear the deficit. With four minutes to go before the break, the Jamaicans were just four points behind (39-35). Just moments later, Forbes fell on the court in pain. She twisted her ankle while going for a ball in mid-air.
This was knife plunged into the Jamaican wound as they never regained their scoring form, as the Australians led 44-37 at the break.
After Australia made their change, they dominate the final quarter, with their fine passes and good combinations from Doyle and Altschwager to down the Jamaicans in their historic final debut.
Coach Guy said despite the injuries, the Jamaicans could have still played better if they displayed more confidence in their play.
"Our girls put up a strong fight from the start to the finish. If they had believed in themselves some more, they could have won the game, but we still played well," Guy said.
