Jamaica crush Bermuda

Charmaine Austin, Staff Reporter

ROSEAU, Dominica:

JAMAICA are well on the way to retaining the Americas Federation of Netball Associations title after recording yet another win at the Stockfarm Sports Complex last night.

The "Sunshine Girls" swamped Bermuda 99-9 in a game which had a great deal of comic relief towards the end.

The young Bermudans, coached by Jamaican Dorrette Williams-Lee, used tactics to 'freeze' the ball (keeping it in play among themselves for long periods), and prevented the Jamaicans from reaching the 100 mark.

Spectators jumped with glee and hugged whoever was closest to them as they shared in the Bermudans' celebrations.

"I feel so good that they (Jamaica) did not reach one hundred," Lee said after the game.

She has Sunshine Girl Margaret Byfield to thank as the shooter called a two-minute time-out close to the end of the final quarter.

"If Maggie (Byfield) hadn't called the time-out I don't think we could have done it. I was so glad when she did," Lee added.

Leading up to the 90-point win, the Jamaicans had interval scores of 22-5, 53-7 and 82-9.

A practice session was what the game seemed like, and with the result pretty much predictable, playing out the game's 45-minute duration was a mere formality.

Manager Cora Ricketts said nothing can stop the Jamaicans now as they head towards their ninth hold on the prestigious regional title.

"There is nothing to stop us now. We came here to win and so far we have been doing a good job at that," she said.

Jamaica play their final game against Barbados today at 6:45 p.m. (Jamaica time).

"Barbados are playing well but we have the ammunition to pull through at this point," Ricketts added.

Meanwhile on court two, Grenada cried their hearts out after they were suffered a shock defeat to Canada. The Canadians registered a come-from-behind 60-55 win, their first of the tournament.

Canada trailed 10-15 and 15-28 at the end of the first two quarters before surging to a third-quarter lead of 41-38 and held on for the win.

Today's matches: