Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls head coach Connie Francis is pleased with her team’s opening game victory over Wales and believes she has seen enough to put them in good stead for Saturday’s much tougher game against the number five-ranked South Africa.
Jamaica defeated Wales 72-43 at the NEC Arena on Friday to get the cobwebs out and they looked better the longer the game went on.
“First game, I’m very thankful that they came out injury free and that’s a positive and the next positive is that we were able to run different combinations with quality results, the results that we were expecting,” was one of the early reflections of Francis, a former Sunshine Girl star player.
“The girls have put in all the hard work and it is now for us to come together and do what we have been practicing in the games,” she added.
The Jamaicans led 16-12 at the end of the first quarter, 38-22 at the half-time break and 55-31 entering the final quarter.
Captain and goal shooter Jhaniele Fowler led the way with 32 goals from 33 attempts in 30 minutes and her replacement Shimona Nelson hit a perfect 29 goals, also in 30 minutes.
They were helped by with eight goals in 12 attempts by goal attack Shanice Beckford in her 30 minutes on court, while Rebekah Robinson chipped in with three goals from five attempts in 30 minutes.
Wing attack Khadijah Williams and centre Nicole Dixon-Rochester supplied 22 and 17 assists, respectively, with Robinson and Beckford adding 12 and 10 assists, respectively.
For Saturday’s game, Francis envisages a few tweaks here or there, but she’s not overly concerned.
“I’m pleased, it wasn’t perfect, there’s never a perfect game, but there is some tweaking that we have to do and I think that we can fix those tweaks. We have 24 hours.”
Also, she was pleased with the apparent seamless manner in which her combinations were executed.
“I liked how it looked; we have dynamic players who create space for us. We have strong players, who are very athletic and can get balls, and we have those quicker ones and we have those who will mix up our feeds, especially into the shooters.
“I love the way our defenders are really pounding and stopping plays, so we do feel proud of the effort. The good thing is that we have some positives; we limited our turnovers to quite a margin that we are not accustomed to and that is key. We just have to look at some centre passes now and where the links go. We have strong a defending lineup and I think that our midcourt is putting it through together and we have solid shooters, so I think we do have a shot against South Africa.”
On the defensive end goal defence Latanya Wilson had four interceptions, with the outstanding goal keep Shamera Sterling adding two and centre Dixon-Rochester with one.
Wales had just one interception.
Saturday’s game against the Republic of South Africa is slated for 6:00 pm (1:00 pm EST) and the coach says her team will not underestimate the team ranked just one place below Jamaica.
“We are going to give them all the respect that we have given to the big teams, so it is just for us to keep pounding the scoreboard and ensure that we limit them at the other end,” noted Francis.
Betsy Creak led the way for Wales with 22 goals from 27 tries, with Georgia Rowe adding 18 of 19 tries.
