'Girls' take bronze

Robert Bailey, Freelance Writer

IT WAS sweet revenge for Jamaica's Sunshine Girls yesterday at the World Netball Championships (WNC) in Auckland, New Zealand as they defeated archrivals England 53-52 to win the third-place play-off and clinch the bronze medal.

In the final, Australia defeated defending champions New Zealand 42-38 to take the title.

Hyacinth Smith, manager of the Jamaican team, said it was all joy and happiness for the Jamaicans when the umpire blew the final whistle.

"The girls felt extremely happy that they were able to medal in this championship because it was really heartbreaking when we lost to New Zealand in the semi-finals," said Smith. "We always figured that we could win this championships because we were aiming for first or second place and so when that didn't happen, we knew we had to get the better of them (England)."

Jamaica went down 3-0 to England in a home series before the championships in September.

Smith said: "It really felt good beating England and to retain our third-place ranking."

Led from the start

The Jamaicans rose from the disappoint-ment of losing their epic encounter with the Silver Ferns 24 hours earlier to lead from start to finish. They were quickly into their stride in a free-flowing first quarter, jumping out to a 16-11 lead at the first break.

They then extended their advantage by a point for a 27-21 lead at half-time. England ran out of ideas and resources to crack the Jamaicans hold on the game when they fell further behind 43-32 at the end of the third quarter.

However, England rallied strongly in the fourth period through their ace goal shooter Louisa Brownfield, who netted 12 goals from 13 tries in the period.

Brownfield finished the game with 29 goals from 35 tries and received solid support from her teammate, Pamela Cookey (23 from 29). Jamaica's star performer of the tournament, Romelda Aiken, claimed 30 goals from 38 attempts and Simone Forbes 23 from 28.