Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

Joan Cargill, coach of Jamaica's Under-16 netballers, said hard word and dedication were key factors to their success at this year's Jean Pierre Caribbean Champion-ships, which ended on Wednesday night at the National Indoor Sports Complex.

The junior Sunshine Girls crowned themselves queens of the region by taking the winning trophy three years in a row and their eighth title overall.

The Jamaicans thrashed Trinidad and Tobago 45-15 in their final game on Wednesday to finish the championships as the only unbeaten team, with six victories.

Second-place trophy

Barbados took home the second-place trophy following their easy 58-5 win over Guyana. Trinidad and Tobago claimed the third place trophy.

"This team works very hard and the girls are dedicated and they told us before the start they were going to win this tournament and they did," said Cargill.

"I think that Jamaica is going places because if you look at our results throughout this championships, you could see that we were always in control of each game that we played," she said. "These girls are very skilful and their attitude is good and we are now getting the results that we have asked of them," Cargill said.

Cargill added that the Jamaica Netball Association (JNA) has done a wonderful job of nurturing the girls from the Under-13 programme and into the Under-16 team without much help from corporate sponsors.

"The main resource we are lacking is funding and I want to ask corporate Jamaica to get on board and support these girls because they are the future of netball," said Cargill.

Anderson dominated

Against Trinidad and Tobago the Jamaicans began the match superbly. The 6'10" goal shooter Marvadean Anderson dominated her opponents to score 25 goals in the first half as Jamaica led 29-5 at half time.

The Sunshine Girls were unstoppable in the third period as they thrilled the local spectators with their swift passing and quick off-the-ball movement. The performance led to them outscoring the Trinidadians 10-4 for a 39-9 lead at the end of quarter.

Cargill replaced Anderson with Vanessa Jones at the start of the fourth quarter, a move which paid dividends as the hosts quickly outscored their opponents 10-6 and coasted to a comfortable victory.

Anderson ended the game with 30 goals from 42 attempts. She received good support from the tournament's Most Valuable Player (MVP) Deneen Taylor, 13 goals from 19 attempts, and Vanessa Jones, two goals from three attempts.

Latisha Pitt, seven goals from 11 attempts, and Kalifa McCollin, six from 13, were the scorers for Trinidad and Tobago.