Barbados crushed St Lucia 77-50 with superior shooting and defence to take game one of a three-match netball series on Wednesday night at the Netball Stadium.
Playing in front of a large crowd, several
of the 15 Bajans who were used in the six 15-minute periods, definitely etched their names in the team for the Commonwealth Games in Scotland in August.
It was only in the fifth session that the visitors outscored Barbados 11-8. Even so, Barbados led in every period, 12-9, 28-15, 40-22, 54-30, 62-41.
Young Shonica Wharton relished her starting goal shooter role by hitting 17 goals from 21 attempts and when she was later replaced, six-footer Laurel Browne was almost perfect in sinking 22 of 24 shots. Goal attack Shenique Thomas would swish the bottom of the net nine of 12 times with contributions of 21 from 23 by Nikita Piggott and 12 of 16 from Shannon Hackett.
However, it was the mid court play of starter Samantha Browne at wing attack and captain Latonia Blackman at centre which excited the spectators while the powerful defence of Shonette Bruce and strong play from Shanice Rock and Jeneice Clarke thwarted the visitors.
At 4-2 in the first 15, Clarke had replaced vice captain Rhe-Ann Niles, who suffered a blow to the mouth which forced her to sit out the rest of the match.
While the spectators were denied the chance to see the combined aggression and flight of Niles and Bruce in tandem, the wily Clarke and later a physical Rock ensured the level of play and defence neutralised St Lucia. Furthermore, the fans got to see an awesome international set piece which saw Bruce hoist the slimly built Clarke à la rugby play to grab an attempt at goal by St Lucia in the circle.
St Lucia’s shooting was of a high percentage with starter Shem Maxwell scoring 24 of 39, Indira Lawrencia 20 of 23, Ianna Hippolyte, four of seven and Jermaine Genelon, netting two of four.
However, the mean defence of Barbados resulted in the visitors getting just 73 shots at goal which were four fewer than Barbados’ success shots.
Coaches Anna Shepherd and Sandra Bruce-Small had started with Wharton and Piggott in the circle, Bruce and Niles in defence with Blackman, Samantha Browne and Kizzy Marville running the mid court. Except for some moments of uncertainty where the mid court held the ball feeling for teammates to make the pass, ninth-ranked Barbados showed the gap between them and their 15th-ranked opponents.
The final game will be played at 8 p.m. today at the Netball Stadium following last night’s second match.