Goal shooter Maikea Bramble was in ominous form as she drained 87 goals from 90 tries to steer the Trinidad and Tobago netball team to a 106 to 17 demolition of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) in the Americas Netball World Cup Qualifiers at the Sir Garfield Sobers Complex in Bridgetown, Barbados on Sunday.
The result sent a stern warning to their opponents in the eight-team qualifiers, with the Calypso Girls now considered the team to beat. The top two teams will earn a qualifying berth at the Netball World Cup in Sydney, Australia next year.
Coach Liselle Johnson opted to rest England-based Samantha Wallace-Joseph for the contest; however, the Calypso Girls did not skip a beat at the start and quickly spun into fluent attack from the get-go. The BVI, a development team, entered the tournament as the lowest-ranked team in the tournament but felt the wrath of the Johnson-coached Calypso Girls, who romped to the largest margin of victory for the tournament so far.
In the first quarter, Bramble was the target, though goal attack Kalifa McCollins contributed eight goals from as many attempts in an encounter dominated by Bramble. The prolific Bramble raced to 21 goals from 22 that helped to take the first quarter 29-3.
In the second quarter, it was more of the same as the Calypso Girls swiftly moved the ball from defence to the centre third before it reached the safe hands of Bramble, who failed to miss a single goal in 27 attempts. McCollins added a five-from-five second-half tally before having to make way for Kira Rothwell for the last two sessions.
Still, with Bramble scoring most of the goals, the top-ranked Calypso Girls sealed the second and third quarters 61-6 and 86-12, as they prepare to face their last match of the tournament today against the host team, the Bajan Gems, in their final match at 8 pm.
Coach Johnson told the media about their plan entering the match. “What we decided as a team is that we were going to strike a minimum of 25 goals. Once we were able to maintain a good, strong set of goal defence and transition the ball as quickly as we should, we should be able to reach that goal.”
With the result, T&T is assured a spot in the next round; however, with the tricky Bajans being their final match, the aim is to not lose a single match. “ Tomorrow we plan to just work together as a cohesive unit. I believe that in unity there is strength, and once we continue to go through the rest of the last game in this tournament together, we should be successful. Trying to take out whatever negativity that may be around the team at this point in time, put it aside and for them to remain focused and be able to just come out of this tournament with no lost games,” Johnson explained.
<Gems stumble again in Netball Qualifiers>
St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) earned a hard-fought, crucial 49-43 win over hosts Barbados Gems to move up to second place in the Americas Netball World Cup Qualifiers on Saturday.
The defeat was the 19th ranked Barbados’ second straight following their shock loss to 40th ranked USA on Friday, and left them in third position on nine points from their five matches, the same as fourth placed USA.
T&T’s Calypso Girls, however, continued to steamroll their way through the tournament with a 62-35 demolition of Saint Lucia, their fifth win in as many matches.
USA maintained pace with the top three by whipping Canada 51-32 to register their third win in five matches, while Grenada thumped the winless US Virgin Islands 60-28 to record their first victory of the tournament.
Saint Lucia and the USA are set to meet in Sunday’s opening game, with St Vincent and Grenada clashing in a crucial encounter.
T&T will be heavy favourites to defeat USVI, while Barbados will need to defeat Canada if they are to have any chance of finishing in the top two.
Only the top two finishers will qualify for next year’s Netball World Cup in Sydney, Australia.
