Barbados defeat Saint Lucia in netball thriller

Barbados staged an epic comeback in the final quarter to edge Saint Lucia 42-40 and win a thrilling encounter at the Netball World Cup, Sydney Regional Qualifiers–Americas on Tuesday. The result saw them remain unbeaten after two games. Playing on day two of the event at the Garfield Sobers Gymnasium, Barbados showed signs of early nervousness in the opening quarter, as Saint Lucia edged ahead in the closing seconds to establish a 10-8 lead. Players from both sides watch keenly as Barbados score another late goal in the final few minutes. Saint Lucia won the last encounter between the two sides, which was the bronze medal match at this year’s Central American and Caribbean Games in the Dominican Republic, and warning bells were beginning to go off among the vocal Barbadian supporters inside the venue when they extended their lead to 22-18 at half-time. With Saint Lucian shooters Naija Ferdinand and Shem Maxwell leading the charge, they dominated the third quarter to establish a 35-27 advantage before a serious-looking injury ended Maxwell’s game and slowed their momentum. With the crowd roaring them on in the final quarter, Barbados sprang to life defensively and then in the shooting circle, as Saint Lucia were pressured into a number of errant passes. You Might Be Interested In The crowd surged to its feet as the Bajan Gems took the lead for the first time in the game with under two minutes left, before pulling away to win 42-40, much to the delight of their singing and dancing supporters. Fay Agard showed nerves of steel down the stretch to score 28 of her 31 attempts for Barbados, while youthful Saint Lucia shooter Naija Ferdinand led their charge with 25 of 29. Bajan Gems head coach Julie Philips says she never lost faith that her team would win, despite trailing for all but two minutes of the game. “At the end of the day, the ‘W’ is the most important part (but) we made it harder than it should have been. We had some issues early on that we needed to iron out. Initially it was a lack of self-confidence and self-belief. I reassured them and I asked them to trust the process.” Brianna Holder (front left) leads the Barbadian team off the court Philips continued, “When I looked up and I saw the clock and I recognised what the issue was, I made the adjustment, but I have confidence in my girls and I am very proud and thankful. “Now it’s time for us to rewatch the video, see where we went wrong, rest and get ready for tomorrow night (Wednesday).” It was a tough defeat for Saint Lucia manager Jo Ann Anderson to accept, but she remained proud of her team. “I’m very emotional because we lost a very hard-fought game. Yesterday we went back to the drawing board and we came out today and I think my girls played extremely well. “It’s just that after our goal shooter got injured, I realised they were going down, but I’m still super proud.” According to Anderson, immediately after the game, there was no more information about the nature of the injury to Maxwell, but the team was determined to regroup ahead of their next game. In Tuesday’s remaining encounters, Trinidad and Tobago defeated St Vincent and the Grenadines 73-41, USA recorded a 61-42 win over Grenada, and Canada dismissed the US Virgin Islands 60-27. (KH)