AVARUA, Cook Islands (CMC):

Standout shooter Romelda Aiken netted a game-high 29 goals and ignited Jamaica to a 48-42 victory over England and the bronze medal at the World Youth Netball Championship (WYNC) on Thursday night.

After a tight 11-11 first-quarter scoreline, the Jamaicans accelerated to lead at all other breaks en route to a six-goal victory and improved on their fourth-place finish at the 2005 WYNC in Florida.

The championship title changed hands when Australia defeated New Zealand in the gold medal match at the new Tereora Multi-Purpose Sporting Complex.

Starting the contest with their 6-foot-5-inch Aiken on the bench with a knee injury, Jamaica's young Sunshine Girls were unable to dominate and Eboni Beckford Chambers marshalled England's defence superbly to deny the Jamaicans.

Gave Jamaicans a boost

Jamaican coach C. Lloyd Walker inserted Aiken - her knee heavily strapped - in the second quarter and the ANZ Championship's two-time MVP gave the Jamaicans a boost to lead 26-21 at half-time, with Aiken netting 14 from 18 attempts.

England, runners-up at the last WYNC championship four years ago, battled fiercely during the third quarter and drew level at 32-32 before the Jamaicans edged ahead 34-32 at the end of the frame.

Jamaica outscored England 14-10 in the last quarter to secure the win and returned to the WYNC medal podium for the first time since 2000 when they won silver behind Australia in Wales.

Aiken scored her 29 goals from 33 attempts for an 87.8 per cent accuracy, while Crystal Gordon (12/16) and captain Christine Solmon (7/7) got Jamaica's other goals.

Monique Wood (20/25) and Joanne Harten (19/26) led England's scoring.

Reclaimed title

The Australians reclaimed the WYNC title when they unseated New Zealand as champions.

The Aussies got off to a blistering start to lead 21-5 at the end of the first quarter. They were 37-19 and 48-33 in front at the next breaks and were hardly threatened as they ran out easy winners and picked up their fourth title in six WYNC tournaments.

Malawi beat Cook Islands 61-48 in the fifth-place play-off and South Africa defeated Northern Ireland 43-41 for seventh place.

While Jamaica claimed the third-place result, all three Caribbean teams in the tournament finished among the top 12 with Trinidad and Tobago 10th and Barbados 12th.

T&T, who lost 46-52 to Fiji in the ninth-place play-off on Wednesday, were down two places from their eighth-place result in 2005 and Barbados - beaten 51-39 for 11th place on Wednesday - improved five places from 17th in Florida.