Jamaica in crucial showdown

Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

Jamaica stayed on course to retain the Jean Pierre Under-16 Netball Championship title, following an easy 66-5 win over The Cayman Islands yesterday evening at the Leila Robinson Courts.

Marvadean Anderson led the scoring with 49 goals from 58 attempts, while Deneen Taylor, 13 goals from 19 tries and Thristina Harwood, two from four.

Liana Benjamin scored four from eight and Kiana Rankine, one from 13, for The Cayman Islands.

Jamaica will face their toughest test today when they battle unbeaten Barbados, starting at 6:45 p.m.

Unbeaten teams

In another game, Trinidad and Tobago defeated Guyana 63-5. Goal shooter Samantha Wallace led the scoring for the Trinidadians with 45 goals from 53 attempts and got good support from Kalifa McCollin, with 18 from 20 tries.

In the day's other games, Dominica face Guyana at 6 p.m. and unbeaten Trinidad and Tobago oppose St Lucia at 6:15 p.m.

The Jamaicans, who are seeking their third consecutive hold on the title, have won the competition in seven of its eight stagings. Barbados are the only other country to have won the tournament.

Both teams are unbeaten in the championships so far and a win for either side could see one of them lifting the title.

"We are not worried about any of the teams in this competition because all the teams in the tournament are a threat us," said Minett Reynolds, assistant coach of Jamaica.

"We are going to take this competition one game at a time and in doing so we should come out on top," she added.

The junior Sunshine Girls scored their second victory in Saturday's evening session, an easy 64-15 win over St Lucia.

Perfect three

Deneen Taylor led the way for Jamaica with 61 goals from 70 attempts, in the absence of goal shooter Marvadean Anderson, who was rested by the coaching staff. She received support from Vanessa Jones, who shot a perfect three from three attempts.

Jamie Ambrose, with six goals from nine tries, and Chenna Prospere, four from six, were the main scorers for St Lucia.

On the same evening, Barbados recorded their third consecutive victory by mauling The Cayman Islands 44-3.

Sade-Mariah Greenidge, with 22 from 27, and Rieah Holder, 13 from 14 were the main scorers for Barbados, whose coach, Denise Alleyne, is confident of winning today's game.

"Our main goal is to win this tournament and if we are going to win it we will definitely have to beat Jamaica and I think that we can definitely do it," said Alleyne.

In the other game played during Saturday's evening session, Trinidad and Tobago secured their second win - a 30-20 victory of over Dominica.