Netball Jamaica has been fined almost one million Jamaican dollars (£5,000) by World Netball following last year’s fiasco involving the Sunshine Girls series with the Silver Ferns in September 2022. Resulting from the sanction, the Sunshine Girls will be barred from international tournaments until the fine is fully paid.
According to reports, passport and visa issues delated the arrival of the Sunshine Girls in New Zealand resulting in a condensed series with two tests being moved to Auckland. Subsequently, only seven players eventually arrived in New Zealand as the other five of the 12-player squad continued to experience challenges with their visas.
As a result, Jamaica in a bid to field the mandatory 10 players for a recognized test match, were forced to add coach Connie Francis to the team sheet. They were also forced to recruit Romelda Aiken-George and the retired Carla Borrego from Australia. Aiken-George had given birth to her first child a few weeks earlier.
Reports said lost ticket sales and a change of venue and costs for travel assistance cost New Zealand dearly and prompted the World Netball investigation. The two games that were not played were recorded as losses for Jamaica which saw them drop to fourth in the world rankings.
Fowler scores 5000th goal to lead West Coast Fever to 69-65 win over Sunshine Coast Lightning
Jamaican goal shooter Jhaniele Fowler scored her 5000th Suncorp Super Netball league goal as her West Coast Fever narrowly came out 69-65 winners over the Sunshine Coast Lightning on Saturday.
Fowler converted 19 of her team’s first 20 goals in the first quarter as the Fever built a seven-point lead entering the second period.
The Lightning then had an improved showing in the second quarter, eventually losing 14-17 to enter halftime facing a 27-37 deficit.
The lead built by the Fever proved to be extremely important as the Lightning came out blazing in the second half winning the third and fourth quarters by six points, eventually coming up just four points shy of their opponents at the end of proceedings.
In total, Fowler converted 54 goals from 58 attempts to keep the defending champions third in the table on 32 points, two behind the Adelaide Thunderbirds and New South Wales Swifts, from 12 games.
Sterling, Wilson overcome Fowler as Thunderbirds edge Fever 54-53 in Suncorp Super Netball League; Swifts top Vixens 70-62
Key defensive plays from Shamera Sterling and Latanya Wilson overcame another high-percentage shooting performance from Jhaniele Fowler as the Adelaide Thunderbirds pulled off another thrilling one-goal win 54-53 over the West Coast Fever at the Netball SA Stadium on Saturday.
Fowler, the Suncorp Super Netball League’s leading scorer, converted 42 of 43 attempts but it was not enough to prevent the reigning champions from falling to their fourth defeat of the season.
Wilson earned 74.5 Nissan Net Points and Sterling 63 for defensive play that held off the defending champions who led 20-12 after the first quarter. However, the league leaders managed to close the gap by the half-time interval after outscoring Fever 14-11 in the second.
The low-scoring encounter saw the Thunderbirds win the third and fourth quarters, 13-10 and 15-12, respectively to snatch another close win. Eleanor Cardwell converted 26 of her 30 shots and Lucy Austin scored six from six in the hard-fought victory.
Adelaide Thunderbirds now have eight wins and just two losses from their 11 games this season while Fever dropped to seven wins and four losses and are only third on goal difference over Melbourne Vixens who also have a record of seven wins and four losses.
The Vixens suffered their fourth loss of the season going down 70-62 to New South Wales Swifts, who got 29 goals from Romelda Aiken-George from 34 attempts and a perfect 16 from 16 from Helen Housby.
Mwai Kumwenda scored 33 of her 35 attempts for the Vixens.
Meanwhile, Shimona Nelson scored 53 goals from 56 attempts for the Collingwood Magpies, whose miserable season will be their last in the Suncorp Super Netball League, as they suffered yet another defeat.
The Magpies were outscored 66-62 by the Sunshine Coast Lightning in what was their ninth loss of the season.
Cara Koenen scored 34 from 35 and Steph Wood 20/24 for the Lightning who were picking up their fourth win of the season and are current fifth in the league standings.
Fowler's Fever rebounds with record-breaking 97-63 victory over Queensland Firebirds Suncorp Super Netball
Defending Suncorp Super Netball League champions West Coast Fever rebounded by last weekend’s loss with a record-breaking performance against the Queensland Firebirds on Sunday.
Having lost to New South Wales Swifts by a single goal last week, and three of their last four to slip to third in the league table, the Fever responded by crushing the Firebirds 97-63 at the RAC Arena. The 97 goals scored was the highest number of goals scored in a single match in the league.
Led by Jhaniele Fowler’s 52 goals from 56 attempts and Sasha Glasgow’s perfect 15 of 15, the Fever led by 10 (27-17) at the end of the first quarter and extended the lead to 20 at half time after outscoring Queensland 23-13 in the second.
The Firebirds managed to rally in the third quarter in which they were outscored 21-18 but the Fever put their foot back down on their necks in the final quarter 26-15 to win by a massive 34 goals.
Donnell Wallam led the scoring for the Firebirds with 37 goals from 40 attempts.
Fowler scored her 500th goal of the season and ended the match with a tally of 552, 75 more than Wallam.
The Fever’s seventh win of the season saw them maintain third place in the league standings despite Adelaide Thunderbirds falling to a massive 21-point loss to Melbourne Vixens on Saturday.
The league leaders suffered only their second loss of the season 60-39 due mainly to outstanding defensive play by the Vixen’s mid-court.
Shamera Sterling had a strong start for the Thunderbirds, with a rebound, two intercepts, and a deflection in a formidable first term. Her performance spurred the Thunderbirds to a three-point lead (14-11) over the Vixens as the first quarter came to a close.
However, the Vixens defense were relentless. Emily Mannix had an impressive display with five intercepts, four deflections as the Vixens stamped their authority on the encounter.
Mwai Kumwenda (21/22) and Kiera Austin (23/30) led the scoring for the Vixens while Eleanor Cardwell scored 21 of 24 and Georgie Horjus scored eight goals for the Thunderbirds.
In another lop-sided match on Saturday, Romelda Aiken-George scored 26 from 32 attempts, Helen Housby 14 from 17 and Sophie Fawns 17 from 22 as the New South Wales Swifts swamped Collingwood Magpies 85-56 at the Ken Rosewall Arena despite Shimona Nelson’s 35 goals from just 37 attempts.
It was the Swifts’ largest margin of victory this season.
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