KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls captured the Margaret Beckford Sunshine Series with a dominant 58-47 victory over South Africa in Jamaica on Saturday.
The 11-point victory helped the home side sweep the three-match series at the National Indoor Sports Centre and followed up a 2-1 series win over England in the Vitality Netball Horizon Series last November.
Sunshine Girls head coach, Sasher-Gaye Henry said she was especially pleased with the team’s performance.
“We are excited for the win and we’re very grateful for the opportunity.
“This is a journey we have started, and it is our second encounter and we’re truly grateful for the results we have had,” Henry said after the victory.
“We want to recover and we want to build on these ladies. The girls will go back to the leagues, we will be working hard on our skills development, and we will be looking at other prospects.
“It is a long journey ahead and we still want to bring in more persons, based on what we have right now,” she added.
The Sunshine Girls got off to a blazing start. establishing a 10-goal lead inside the first six minutes of the game.
However, the introduction of Elmere van de Berg and Kamogelo Maseko helped South Africa recover, with the duo helping to close the gap to a five-goal deficit (14-9) at the end of the first quarter.
But Jamaica’s Shimona Jok took over proceedings in the ensuing quarter, much like she did all series, netting 37 of her 40 attempts to end the series with only six missed shots across all three games.
Her efforts helped the Sunshine Girls reestablish their commanding lead and they led 29-19 at the half.
The third quarter was much of the same, as Jamaica continued to be aggressive in the shooting circle with Jok and Shanice Beckford dominating proceedings and they coasted to victory without much alarm.
Beckford scored 14 of her 19 attempts, while Rhea Dixon netted all five of her shots.
For South Africa, van de Berg scored 30 of her 33 attempts while Maseko ended the game with 16 goals from 17 attempts.
CMC
