Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls delivered another commanding performance to complete a clean sweep of South Africa in the three-match Margaret Beckford Sunshine Series, as they topped the third and final game 58-47 at the National Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday.

The third-ranked Jamaicans, fresh off victories of 55-47 and 59-47 in the opening two matches, were determined to seal the series with a statement win, and that they did.

From the opening whistle, they set the tone with their trademark speed and precision, led by their indomitable captain and standout defender, Shamera Sterling-Humphrey, who was named Player of the Match.

Shimona Jok, the Player of the Series, once again spearheaded Jamaica’s attack, scoring a phenomenal 37 goals from 39 attempts. Shanice Beckford added 14 goals from 18 attempts, while Rhea Dixon and Simone Gordon chipped in with five and two goals, respectively.

For South Africa, Elmere Van Der Berg stood out with 30 goals from 33 attempts, while Kamegelo Maseko contributed 16 from 17 attempts. Nicole Breedt added one goal to round out their scoring.

Jamaica’s head coach, Sasher-Gaye Henry-Wright, expressed pride in her team’s performance and emphasized the significance of their back-to-back series victories, following their recent Horizon Series win over England.

“This is a journey that we have started, and this is our second series. We are very grateful for the results that we have had. We were confident because we were working on some things that we really wanted to fix today, and I think we fixed 80 percent of that in terms of our execution,” Henry-Wright said.

“The journey is a long way, but for us to start this way and achieve these results, we are very grateful,” she added.

The Sunshine Girls raced to an early lead, as they scored five unanswered goals before South Africa found the net. From there, they maintained their pace and finished the quarter ahead 14-9.

It was more of the same in the second quarter as the Jamaicans dominated proceedings and extended their lead to as many as 10 goals at multiple stages. They eventually ended with the score 29-19 in their favour at the halftime interval.

While South Africa showed resilience, they couldn’t match Jamaica’s intensity, which resulted in the Sunshine Girls opening their largest lead of the match, 14 goals, during the third quarter.

Both teams played a physical game, but Jamaica’s control saw them finish the quarter 45-32 ahead, and from there it was all about game management.

Jamaica’s dominance continued in the final quarter, with the lead ballooning to 16 goals at one stage. However, South Africa mounted a spirited effort to narrow the gap at the end.

South Africa’s coach, Jenny van Dyk, took heart from her team’s efforts as they prepare for their upcoming Nations Cup engagement in England.

“They might have won the war, but we did win some of those battles today. After another great start, we pulled it back, and I am so proud of this bunch of South Africans. We are definitely coming, so the rest of the world needs to be very wary,” Van Dyk said.