Photo by Nathaniel Stewart
Jamaica's Under-21 player Christina Solmon (centre) preparing to make a pass, while Australia's Sam May (left) and Rachel Forbes (right) look on. The action is from game one of the three-match netball series at the G C Foster College last Wednesday. Australia won 55-31.

Robert Bailey, Freelance Writer

Jamaica's Under-21 netballers will be playing for pride when they face Australia in the final game of their three-match series tomorrow at the National Indoor Sports Complex starting at 6 p.m.

The Young Sunshine Girls trail 2-0 in the series after they were beaten 51-37 in game two on Friday night at the G.C. Foster College in St. Catherine.

Janet Guy, coach of Jamaica's team, said, despite the loss, she was pleased with their efforts.

"I think that it was a much improved performance by the team because you could see that the players were learning as the game went on," Guy said. "We are going to have to play for pride and we have to go out and show that we have learnt something from the Australians, and I think that will help us to move forward."

Lack of concentration

Guy also noted that lack of concen-tration and inexperience on the part of some players were the main reasons why they lost the match.

"I thought we performed creditably well. The fact is that there is still a lot of work to be done. We also tried a lot of different combinations in the game because we wanted to give everyone a chance to play," she said.

The coach also added that the team was a very young team and this is the first time they are getting this kind of international exposure.

"Our programme is geared towards 2009, and we don't want the girls to peaking too early," she added. "We need to work on what we have leant from this series, because if means we have to go out hunt players than we are going to go and hunt players."

Second consecutive win

Meanwhile, Simone McKinnis, coach of the young Australians, said: "We are pleased because this is our second win in a row."

"I think Jamaica certainly played a much improve game last night (Friday) because they had a really strong second quarter," said McKinnis. "Our team performance was solid, but we had some periods throughout the match where we let the Jamaicans back into the game."

Kimberly Borger was the leading scorer for the Aussies with 33 goals from 37 attempts, as they led 36-24 at half time. The Australians then outscored the Jamaicans (16-9) for a 37-28 at the end of the third period.

Crystal Gordon (23 goals from 25 attempts) and Christina Solmon (12 goals from 18 tries) were the leading scorers for the Young Sunshine Girls.