SPOONERS HILL Firebirds proved to be the hottest of the weaker three when Division 1 netball continued on Friday night at the Netball Stadium.
With the top four teams – defending double crown champions UWI Blackbirds, Pine Hill St Barnabas, C.O. Williams Rangers and Guardian General Pride of Villa – having no fixtures because their national players were on tour, the Firebirds and the newly promoted Goodride and Wolverines have been battling each other.
Firebirds followed up their win over Wolverines by blazing past Goodride 41-33 after the game looked close with quarter scores of 9-6, 17-17 and 28-27.
Coach steps in
However, former Barbados player Lydia Bishop, who coaches Goodride, came off the bench in the third quarter to show her charges that she had taught them everything they know but not everything she knows.
After veteran Deborah Kellman had scored nine of 16 and the tough Kerryann Brathwaite, who led Firebirds with 19 of 25 kept her team in the hunt, Bishop entered to shift the balance.
With Keliha Green and Danicia King struggling to contain Kellman and Brathwaite, Goodride moved the aggressive junior national Tamara Trotman from wing attack to goal defence to blunt the expected goal rush from Bishop.
However, Bishop, showing her skills and speed, duped Trotman into committing numerous contacts on her as well as the asphalt court. Goodride’s leads occurred at 14-13 and 18-17 and swelled to 21-18.
Firebirds unleashing the speed and aggression of Under-21 Most Valuable Player Acacia Small in mid-court and Diamond Hollingsworth’s harrying of Goodride’s shooters, Clarke and Knight, set the stage for the Bishop tutorial.
In the fourth quarter Firebirds blazed from 31-29 to 40-29 before Goodride got going again. By then it was too late for them to join Wolverines with a 1-1 record while Firebirds moved to 2-0 to await the introduction of the big four. (KB)
