Anderson

Jamaica's Under-16 netballers began their defence of the Jean Pierre Caribbean Championships in impressive fashion when they thrashed Dominica 65-7 in the opening match last night at the Leila Robinson Courts.

In another game, the Cayman Islands defeated Guyana 25-18.

Deneen Taylor led the way for the junior Sunshine Girls by scoring 34 goals from 39 attempts. She received good support from Marvadean Anderson, who sunk 24 goals from 41 tries, and Vanessa Jones, with seven goals from 10 tries.

Andrea Remy led the way for the Dominicans with six goals from 13 attempts.

Dominated the match

The Jamaicans dominated the match from the opening whistle as they romped to an easy 29-4 lead at half-time.

Jamaica's coach Joan Cargill pulled out goal shooter Anderson at start of the third period, but this did not hamper the junior Sunshine Girls' performance as they outscored their opponents 17-3 for a 46-7 lead at the end of the third quarter.

The Dominicans proved no match for the hosts who, despite making six changes to their line-up for the fourth quarter, still managed to outscore their opponents 19-0.

Cora Ricketts, manager of Jamaica, said she was pleased with her team's effort.

"I think we played well because the girls played according to our instructions," she said.

"I don't beleive that we will be doing anything different in our next game, because our plan is to take things one game at a time," Ricketts added.

The defending champions and hosts will hunt their second victory today when they take on St Lucia at 6:45 p.m., in one of three matches in the evening session.