THE BAJAN GEMS assured themselves of a spot in next year’s AFNA Youth World Cup netball finals in Botswana with a tournament high 91-9 victory over Argentina in the Qualifiers being played here in St Maarten.
With game time being given to all of the players, Barbados shook off three successive misses before opening their account to run away with leads of 24-3, 46-5 and 68-6. The previous highest score was Trinidad & Tobago besting the same Argentina 87-4.
Shaquilla Davis led the Gems with 29 goals from 36 attempts while top shooter Shonica Wharton came off of the bench to score 27/31. Vanessa Reid-Cox enjoyed a tremendous game scoring 18/22 while captain Sheniqua Thomas sank 17/21 before being lifted from the court in the second quarter after going down with a knee injury.
While the battle for the top spot is shaping up to be Sunday’s match between the Gems and T&T, the third qualifying spot appears to be going to the Spice Isle after Grenada dumped St Kitts and Nevis 44-18. (KB)
