Silver Ferns 59 Jamaica 49
KEY POINTS:
The Silver Ferns showed they could absorb pressure and bounce back in style as they held off a rampant Jamaican team to win their semifinal 59-49 at the world netball championship in Auckland today.
They will meet Australia, as expected, in the final tomorrow.
In an outstanding second
half, the New Zealanders showed character in spades, with rookie centre Laura Langman outstanding when it got down to the nitty gritty of the last chaotic minutes.
In an superb closing quarter, the Silver Ferns demolished Jamaica with an unanswered 10-goal streak, courtesy of some brilliant through-court defensive pressure and Irene van Dyk's immaculate shooting.
It wasn't the best of starts for New Zealand, as Jamaica scored through goal attack Simone Forbes, then broke the Silver Ferns' pass to make it 2-0. But some steady work in the centre from Langman and wing attack Adine Wilson settled things, and van Dyk and Jodi Te Huna combined smoothly to make up the deficit and slot the next four goals.
Jamaica maintained composure, centre Sharon Wiles combining well with Nadine Bryan and feeding towering shooter Romelda Aiken with well-weighted passes. They weathered the initial Silver Ferns' onslaught, and then launched into one of their own to edge away to a 16-13 lead at the end of the first quarter.
In a fast-paced, aerial first quarter, the Silver Ferns were probably guilty of losing control on occasions, pushing the pass when a little more timing could have worked better.
With an eye on the threat Aiken posed, New Zealand coach Ruth Aitken brought Leana de Bruin on for Sheryl Scanlan at goal defence at the break in a bid to put more pressure on the Jamaican feeds into the circle.
But the Jamaicans, with some sterling defensive work from Kasey Evering and Althea Byfield, managed to put constant pressure on van Dyk and Te Huna and the resulting turnovers were converted by the on-fire Aiken.
In a physical second quarter, the Silver Ferns forgot the need to keep things simple, too often forcing the ball into the circle and turning over possession, leaving Jamaica with a 30-26 lead at halftime.
Van Dyk's shooting was all but perfect in the first half, as she sunk 20 out of 21 for a 95 per cent success rate, Te Huna a more circumspect six from seven. For the Jamaicans, Aiken mirrored van Dyk's 20 from 21 while Forbes also missed only once in 11 shots on goal.
Aitken made just one change at halftime, benching Julie Seymour and bringing on the gritty Joline Henry at wing defence.
In a supercharged third quarter the Silver Ferns fought back, one intercept at a time, to go ahead for the first time in half - 32-31 six minutes into the quarter.
The Jamaicans never gave an inch, but some more measured feeding into van Dyk and Te Huna reaped its rewards as New Zealand edged out to an almost-but-not-quite comfortable three-goal lead until right on the whistle for three-quarter time. A late surge by Jamaica saw them cut the deficit to 40-39.
The end-to-end stuff continued in the final 15 minutes as a capacity crowd did its best to cheer the Silver Ferns home.
- NZPA
