ST GEORGE’S – In a stun­ning up­set that has sent shock­waves through the tour­na­ment, Saint Lu­cia hand­ed the pre­vi­ous­ly un­beat­en An­tigua and Bar­bu­da their first de­feat of the fifth EC­CB In­ter­na­tion­al Net­ball Se­ries with a com­mand­ing 45-33 vic­to­ry at the Tan­teen Net­ball Court in Grena­da.

The win dra­mat­i­cal­ly shifts the land­scape of the 10-team com­pe­ti­tion. An­tigua and Bar­bu­da had stormed in­to the tour­na­ment as the clear favourites, boast­ing a dom­i­nant run of form.

They opened their cam­paign with a se­ries of re­sound­ing vic­to­ries, dis­man­tling An­guil­la 63-17, Montser­rat 53-14, and Guyana 60-10.

Their un­beat­en streak po­si­tioned them as the team to beat.

How­ev­er, Saint Lu­cia rose to the oc­ca­sion, de­liv­er­ing a mas­ter­class in de­fen­sive pres­sure and clin­i­cal shoot­ing to end their ri­val’s per­fect record.

The 12-point vic­to­ry sends a pow­er­ful mes­sage to the rest of the field, prov­ing that no team is in­vin­ci­ble.

The tour­na­ment, which fea­tures all sev­en mem­ber ter­ri­to­ries of the EC­CB- An­guil­la, An­tigua and Bar­bu­da, Do­mini­ca, Grena­da, Montser­rat, Saint Lu­cia, and Saint Vin­cent and the Grenadines- is al­so be­ing con­test­ed by in­vit­ed sides Bar­ba­dos, the Cay­man Is­lands, and Guyana.

CMC