‘We knew it was going to be tough’, Netball Coach says of Wadadli Girls’ loss to Barbados

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By Neto Baptiste

Antigua and Barbuda struggled against regional giants Barbados, going under 59-25 in the ECCB International Netball Challenge Series when they met at the YMCA Sports Complex on Sunday night.

It was the first loss for the Antigua and Barbuda Wadadli Girls following their opening 45-41 triumph over Dominica on the tournament’s open night.

Goal shoot Rayana Regis sank 21 of her 28 attempts while goal attack Jamilia Fitz hit four of 12 attempts. Coach of the Antigua and Barbuda team and former national player, Karen Joseph, said they knew going into the contest that it was going to be tough.

“I think the girls went in knowing fully well that it was not going to be an easy run-over. I don’t think we needed to try and keep up to their pace because they play really fast and what we needed to do was play our game which is a slow game but overall, I think they tried. We went into the tournament knowing we had some injuries and what we had to do was [rotate] the players to give them the chance to get a breather,” she said.

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Antigua and Barbuda’s Jamilia Fitz scores a basket in the team’s 59-25 loss to Barbados

Goal shoot Faye Agard carried the brunt of the scoring for Barbados, making good on 32 of her 39 attempts. Substitute goal shoot Jada Smith picked up 12 of 19 attempts while goal attack Latonia Blackman hit nine of 10 attempts. Wing attack Brianna Holder chipped in with six of seven attempts.

Despite her team’s dominance, coach of the Barbados team Denise Alleyne, said there is much room for improvement. 

“We didn’t quite get to our target in terms of the goals we set for the actual goals scored. We did generally well defensively but on the attack we had too many unforced errors that resulted in us not scoring and Antigua even capitalized on some of our turnovers so we really need to cut down on the number of turnovers and try to score at a faster rate,” she said.

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Team Antigua and Barbuda take instructions ahead of their clash with Barbados at the YMCA Sports Complex

In other matches contested Sunday, defending champions St Vincent & the Grenadines defeated St Kitts & Nevis 52-37, St. Lucia beat Dominica 34-30 and Cayman Islands outscored Montserrat 82-11.

Goal shoot Joseann Antoine was the chief scorer for SVG with 30 of 34 attempts while goal attack Shellisa Davis hit 19 of 27. St Kitts and Nevis’ Aaliyah Gibson sank 27 of 40 in the losing effort.

St Lucia’s Melika Destang led the scoring for her team with 26 of 42 attempts while goal shoot Kay Copeland was on point for the Cayman Islands with 53 of 68 attempts.

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St Lucia take on Dominica on court one (Observer media photos)
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