Jamaica's centre Nadine Bryan (right) looks to make a pass while being defended by New Zealand's Laura Langman, during Tuesday night's opening game of the two-Test Sunshine Series at the National Indoor Sports Centre. The Silver Ferns won 61-56. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

Jamaica's Sunshine Girls will be looking to level their two-Test National Commercial Bank Sunshine Series against New Zealand, when they meet at the National Indoor Sports Centre tonight. Game time is 7:00.

The Kiwis hold a 1-0 lead in the series after winning the exciting and hard-fought first game 61-56 on Tuesday night.

To achieve their goal of tying the series, Jamaica's coach, Connie Francis, said her team must play with a lot of guts and determination and be on their game from the opening whistle.

"We definitely have to come with a lot of fire in us because we need to start out with a lot of intensity, and I am expecting us to do much better than yesterday (Tuesday)," Francis told The Gleaner yesterday.

The Silver Ferns were led to victory on high percentage shooting, mainly by star goal shooter Irene Van Dyk (28/31). Francis noted that her team needs to limit her contribution to enhance its chances.

Strong performances

"We need to slow down their shooting because their shooters are shooting extremely well and so we need to make a lot defensive stops," observed Francis, herself a former high-percentage Jamaica shooter.

In assessing her team's general performance in the first game, Francis said they played below par. However, she is confident that the team will get it together today.

She said the Sunshine Girls believe in themselves and, given the team's history against New Zealand and recent strong performances against Australia, she knows that they can rally strongly to tie the series.

"I am confident that our girls will perform well tomorrow (today) because our netball is growing ... the last time we met them in the World Championship in 2007 we lost by 10 goals, but these girls are much younger and they have done quite well for us," said Francis.

New Zealand coach, Ruth Aitken, whose charges are ranked number two in the world, said that they plan to close out the series, even though they expect a tough match from the Jamaicans.

"It would be lovely to win, but I am sure that Jamaica would have something to say about this because both teams want to do well. It's going to be a very competitive and exciting game," Aitken predicted.

Jamaica were level (17-17) at the first quarter, trailed by two (29-31) points at half-time and three points (43-46) after three quarters in the opening match, and will be hoping shooters Romelda Aiken and captain Simone Forbes bring their 'A' game tonight. Aiken shot 35 from 42 and Forbes 21 from 23 in the opening match.

Improvements

New Zealand's Aitken noted the improvements in Jamaica's play among reasons why they must play well.

"We have to make sure that we keep our game structure really well and play with a lot of confidence and move the ball into space and make sure the we put a lot of pressure on their defence.

"The Jamaicans are a much better team than the last time we were here and they have shown that in the Fast Net Series; and a win over Australia shows that they are on top of their game," concluded Aitken.