Sunshine Girls strike first blood against fighting SPAR Proteas
Published:Sunday | January 19, 2025 | 12:15 AMOrane Buchanan - Staff Reporter
JAMAICA’S SUNSHINE Girls took a 1-0 lead in the three-match Margaret Beckford Sunshine Series against the touring South Africans, registering a 55-47 victory at the National Indoor Sports Centre last night.
After ending the first quarter all squared at 12-12, the Sunshine Girls closed the first half leading 28-23 on the back of stellar defensive play by the trio of Shamera Sterling-Humphrey, Latanya Wilson, and Jodiann Ward.
By the close of the third quarter, the Sunshine Girls had opened up a seven-point gap, leading the reigning African champions 42-35.
The Sasher Gaye-Henry-coached team withstood some late pressure from the SPAR Proteas while maintaining a healthy advantage to end with the eight-point victory.
In the absence of the dynamic pair of Romelda Aiken-George and Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard, the Sunshine Girls were led by the young, but vastly experienced Shimona Nelson-Jok who shot 97 per cent from the field, scoring 38 of her 39 shots. She was complemented by Shanice Beckford who scored 11 of her 12 attempts.
Henry said while the team won, there were areas she thinks will need improvement.
“As a team I think we did a great job. There are areas that we need to work on. We lapsed a lot and had a lot of short balls. It’s a new shooter that we have back, but she’s experienced. I think it was a keenly contested game and we have to give credit to the girls who played until the end. We have to come back stronger and we know it’s a tough one come Wednesday,” said Henry.
Jennifer van Dyk, head coach of South Africa, believes despite the defeat, she saw evidence that her team can compete with the Jamaicans.
“It was a great display from the Sunshine Girls. In the past encounters against the Jamaicans we lost by 18-19 points and this game it was only by eight. I still feel this is something we can work on and now we go back and look at what we need to work on,” she said.
Game two of the series will be played on Wednesday at the National Indoor Sports Centre with match time set for 7:00 p.m.
Earlier, Jamaica’s under-21s were not so fortunate, losing their first encounter against their South African counterparts 31-61. The second game of that three-match tie takes place on Wednesday as well at 3:30 p.m.