Day 3 of the World Qualifiers could have been the final day of the AFNA tournament here in St. Lucia, as arch rivals faced off from Game One. The two teams from the North, Canada and the USA faced each other in game one.Surprisingly it was Canada who got the early jump on the USA, leading for most of the game. USA however surfaced when it was most important to finish with a game winning 42-36. The interval scores all in favour of Canada were 13-9, 23-14 and 30-27.
Game two was close, physical and scrappy with a number of time outs. At the end home team St. Lucia emerged victorious 46-40 over St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
In the big match up for the evening, Trinidad and Tobago led from the get go and despite pressure from Barbados at intermittent intervals they never faltered leading all intervals 16 -11, 28-23 and 43-39 to finish with a comfortable 10 goal margin 59-49.
The starting line up for the teams were: Barbados - Lydia Bishop (GS), Nikita Piggott (GA), Sabrina Browne (WA), Samantha Browne (C), Kizzy Marville (WD), Lisa Puckering (GD) and Latoya Blackman at GK. Trinidad fielded: Anastacia Wilson (GS), Joelsia Cooper (GA), Rhonda John (WA), Krista Winchester (C), Candice Guererro (WD), Anika La Roche (GD) and Angel Ottley at GK.
Barbados again had lots of trouble on the attack, Sabrina Browne made a number of unforced errors and most times was shut out of the game. This should have been the second quarter change as Lydia Bishop was obviously ready for the game, moving well and playing very strong but was not getting the kind of support she needed from the attack to keep up a healthy momentum. Piggott along with Samatha Browne and Kizzy Marville who played an attacking more than defensive WD were key to production however this created a lot of pressure which could have been relieved with a genuine passer in the squad.
The key to Barbados' demise however came in the third quarter with some substitutions which really did not pan out and clearly took completely what little pressure was on Trinidad off. Barbados went with Lydia Bishop at GA and Laurel Browne at GS. Reminiscent of the old Sonia Banfield and Jennifer Forde in the goal circle days. It hardly worked back then and it certainly did not work this time. Barbados is definitely struggling to find its strongest line up.
My first team based on performance at the tournament: Lydia Bishop, Nikita Piggott, Sabrina Smith, Samantha Browne, toss up between Shepherd and Kizzy at WD (two different styles, effective differently depending on the game), Latoya Blackman and Lisa Puckerin.
Thanks for the commentary, good and indifferent. It lets me know someone is reading :-)
3 comments:
Thank you for the updates. It would be helpful to put up a current placing table on the site!
When you write you need to get your facts right.
The change that was made in the game that saw Lydia Bishop go to GA was made in the 4th quarter.
It would also help if your comments are positive and reflect your support as a Barbadian. At this time when the team is struggling to put their game together why would you want to push them down when it is clear that encouragement is the way to go.
It is clear for all to see is that the potential is there and it is waiting to burst forth. Stop the bashing.
Still waiting on the umpiring assessment and an honest report card about some of the disastrous calls that are being meted out to the teams.
Head Coach
Rather belatedly, congrats on doing this reporting.
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