Former Division One queens Pine Hill St Barnabas registered a comfortable 45-33 win over University of the West Indies Blackbirds B team last night, in order to keep themselves in contention to finish at least third in the Barbados Netball Association season.
It was not the most competitive game for the season but St Barnabas were clearly the better of the two teams and led the first three quarters 9-8, 22-18 and 36-25 at the Netball Stadium. Goal-attack Sheniqua Thomas netted 23 goals from 30 attempts and goal-shooter Shakera Boxill scored 22 goals from 27 attempts for St Barnabas.
[caption id="attachment_165393" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Pine Hill St Barnabas goalkeeper Shonte Seale showed University of the West Indies Blackbird B goal-attack Shakeillia Smith how high she could jump to take possession of this ball.[/caption]
UWI B goal-shooter Rhea Bryant top-scored with 23 from 31 and goal-attack Shakeillia Smith had ten from her 18 attempts.
After last night’s game St Barnabas are now tied in third position on 29 points with Guardian Group Pride of Villa as both teams have so far played nine matches with five wins each and four losses. Currently in first position are clear winners UWI ‘A’ on 45 points after winning all nine of their games with one more game in hand.
At the beginning of the third quarter both teams made a few noticeable changes starting with Pine Hill. They switched Damara Dawson from center to wing-defence, Cherese Seale put on the center’s bib and Sam Browne replaced Vanessa Bobb at wing-attack. Meanwhile for UWI B Sade Sargent went on as goalkeeper for Monique James and Marissa Eliott took over at wing-attack for Tameisha Forde.
UWI were down four points at half-time and instead of applying pressure on Pine Hill to keep the ball from reaching Thomas or Boxill in the third quarter, they allowed the opposition who played most of their under-21 players, to run circles around them including goalkeeper Shonte Seale who did well in the post that is normally occupied by national keeper Shonette Azore-Bruce.
[caption id="attachment_165394" align="aligncenter" width="300"] University of the West Indies Blackbirds B goal-shooter Rhea Bryant had a tough time against St Barnabas’ defence. (Pictures by Morissa Lindsay).[/caption]
Those nonsensical errors by Blackbirds in the third period proved costly and allowed Pine Hill St Barnabas to register their highest quarter score in the game of 14-7, as they went on to take control of proceedings in the fourth quarter. UWI shooters managed to notch a few goals but it was not enough to deny Pine Hill the win.
UWI B are in fifth place with 16 points after winning two of their nine games. They are ahead of Newbury All Stars who have failed to win any of their nine matches since being promoted to division one this year and therefore remain in sixth position.
There were other clashes on the night and in a division two contest Silver Raiders were victorious 43-33 (11-5, 20-17, 31-29) against Wolverines. Raiders goal-shooter Chantelle Brathwaite netted 37 from 55 and goal-attack Chiana Chase six of ten. Wolverine had several shooters and goal-shooter Michelle Rogers top scored with 20 after making 32 attempts while goal-attacks Alicia Lashley had 11 and Deidre Mathurin two.
Spooners Hill Pearls had a close 33-27 (8-5, 16-14, 25-18) win playing against Phoenix Golden Stars in division four. The lone game in division five went to St Joseph Angels with a nailing-biting 21-19 (6-5, 9-11, 13-15) victory over Barbados Defence Force Solja Girlz. Meanwhile in division six Sion Hill got the better of Haggatt Hall 19-11 (5-1, 8-2, 13-7).
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