It was a great day for T&T youth netballers on Tuesday at the Caribbean Netball Association's Jean Pierre Under-16 Championships, defeating previously unbeaten St Lucia, following their domination of the shooting competition in Antigua.
In an all-around team effort, the junior "Calypso Girls" beat St Lucia, 28-24, in a tough battle from the first pass with the defenders playing a huge role in the fourth-round win.
"The defenders remained calm under pressure and at crucial points in the game were able to come up with the rebounds," said David.
It came down to who wanted it more and the national team, coached by Velma Hazelwood and Lystra Solomon-Simmons (assistant coach), left everything on the court and prevailed against St Lucian, which placed second in the last edition behind the Jamaicans who this year, opted out the competition.
"Last year, St Lucia finished ahead of us in the competition. So we knew they would give us a good fight," said Coreen David manage of the T&T team, which placed fourth last year.
The match was pretty even early on with the scores levelled at seven at the end of the first quarter.
Play in the second stanza remained the same but goal-shooter captain Kelelicia George (17/22) and goal-attack Jillisa Briggs (11/15) managed to shoot T&T to a six-point lead at the half (16-10) while T&T goal-keeper Destiny Williams and goal-defence Ashley Greig stepped up and manned the circle well to hold the St Lucians to just three points in the quarter.
To start the second half, St Lucia made changes in the circle switching around its shooters replacing Dasha Eugene in the goal-shooter position with Trenice St Croix while wing-attack Jernia Martial (5/7) entered as the goal-attack. The change worked with the St Lucians making a run to level the scores at 20.
In the fourth quarter, Eugene returned to the circle for St Lucia as the goal-attack while coach Hazelwood switched around T&T's shooters also with George taking the goal-attack bib and Briggs into the goal-shooter position.
"The coach changed the shooters in the last quarter and this allowed Kelelicia (Kelly as she is fondly called by her teammates and peers alike) to carry the ball to Jillisa who finished it off nicely. Between them they scored the goals we needed at the right time," said the manager.
On the other end, Williams and Greig went to work on defending T&T goal and they did everything that was expected of them to restrict the St Lucian shooters only allowing four goals compared to T&T's eight which sealed the four-point win.
Earlier, T&T repeated as champion of the team shooting competition while George ranked as the top shooter in the producing 56 goals from 74 attempts to record the highest total. The T&T captain finished ahead of St Lucian Eugene, who was second with 50 of 67 and third was T&T's Briggs with 42 in 67. T&T's other shooter Shania Shortt placed fourth with 42 of 57.
"We are elated!" said David on defending the team shooting title. "The shooters worked hard for this competition and listened to coach Velma Hazelwood’s plan. Her selection of the third shooter in Shania Shortt played a vital role in helping us achieve the desired end result.
"Kelelicia George is an experienced shooter who was a member of last year’s team and is now the captain. She led from the front as captain to emerge at the top of the pack with the most goals and was also the most accurate shooter in this year’s competition."
George had the best shooting accuracy of 75.68 per cent.
Last night, T&T was scheduled to play the winless Antigua & Barbuda before closing the Championships today against Grenada from 5.30 pm.
Results
T&T 28 (Jillisa Briggs 11/15, Kelelicia George 17/22) vs St Lucia 24 (Dasha Eugene 12/17, Trenice St Croix 7/14, Jernia Martial 5/7). Quarter scores: 1st. 7-7, 2nd. 16-10 (T&T), 3rd. 20-20.
Bermuda 25 (A'Maiah Butterfield 3/7, Selah Tuzo 4/6, Asrael Basden 18/28) vs Antigua & Barbuda 13. Quarter scores: 1st. 4-2, 2nd. 8-6, 3rd. 12-11 (All in favour of Bermuda)
Dominica 24 (Trenese Hamilton 20/31, Etheline 4/6) vs Grenada 18 (Kalidah Andrew 11/19, Celina Brown 7/15). Quarter scores: 1st. 5-4, 2nd. 15-8, 3rd. 20-14 (All in favour of Dominica)
Shooting Competition
Positions based on no. of Goals scored (highest first)
Place*Team*Goals*Attempts*Accuracy
1*T&T*140*198*70.71
2*St Lucia* 120*178*67.42
3*Barbados*107*176*60.80
4 Dominica*107*177*60.45
5*Grenada* 86*163*52.76
6*Bermuda*85 166*51.20
7*Antigua/Barbuda*75*152*49.34
Top 5 Player Results (Goals Scored)
Place*Name*Team*Goals*Attempts*Accuracy
1*Kelelicia George*T&T*56*74*75.68
2*Dasha Eugene*St Lucia*50*67*74.63
3*Jillisa Briggs*T&T*42*67*62.69
4*Shania Shortt*T&T*42*57*73.68
5*Sumara Benn*Barbados*40*63*63.49
Player Results (Accuracy)
Top 10
Place*Name*Team*Goals*Attempts*Accuracy
1*Kelelicia George*T&T*56*74*75.68
2*Dasha Eugene*St Lucia*50*67*74.63
3*Shania Shortt*42*57*73.68
4*Tancy Matthew*St Lucia*39*59*66.10
5*Etheline Telemaque*Dominica*37*58*63.79
6*Sumara Benn*Barbados*40*63*63.49
7*Jillisa Briggs*T&T*42*67*62.69
8*Treneese Hamilton*Dominica*39*63*61.90
9*Celina Brown*Grenada*37*60*61.67
10*Derica Haynes*Barbados*35*57*61.40