Jamaica's ace goalshooter Romelda Aiken (left) shooting over Trinidad and Tobago's goalkeeper Kemba Duncan during last night's opening match in the National Commercial Bank (NCB) Sunshine Savers Tri-nation series at the National Indoor Sports Centre. Jamaica beat Trinidad and Tobago 59-30 with Aiken scoring 15 goals from 19 attempts. - ricardo makyn

Jamaica's Sunshine Girls thrashed Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) 59-30 in the opening game of the National Commercial Bank (NCB) Sunshine Savers Tri-nation series last night at the National Indoor Sports Complex.

The Jamaicans dominated the opening quarter and led 17-8 at the end of the period. However, the Trinidadians stepped up their defence in the second period, which resulted in a number of turnovers by their opponents as they outscored the Sunshine Girls (12-8) to trail 25-20 at half-time.

Number of adjustments

Jamaica's coach Connie Francis made a number of adjustments to the local team at the start of the third period. She switched Nadine Bryan from centre to wing attack as she exchanged positions with Tracey-Ann Robinson. Christina Solmon replaced goal shooter Romelda Aiken, who seemed a bit tired and not at her best, while Althea Byfield replaced Nicole Aiken at the goalkeeper position.

The changes quickly paid off as the Sunshine Girls, stepped up the tempo of the match with Solmon scoring eight goals in the final two minutes to extend the hosts' advantage to a 17 points lead at 42-25 at the end of the third quarter.

The Trinidadians literally gave up in the final period, as they had no answer to the Sunshine Girls, who piled on the pressure with their quick passing and stylish plays that had the crowd screaming and jumping with delight. The Jamaicans outscored their opponents 17-5 for a 29-goal victory.

Solmon received solid support from captain Simone Forbes, who sank 25 goals from 29 attempts and Aiken 15 goals from 19 tries. Janelle Barker was the leading scorer for T&T with 19 goals from 25 attempts.

A pleased Coach francis

Francis said she was pleased with her team's performance. "I think it was a good effort from us tonight. However, one of the things that we need to do is take better care of the ball because I thought that we made too many unforced errors and we were also a bit flat at times," Francis added.

Bridger Adams, coach of T&T said: "The Jamaicans have taller players than us, and we tried to counteract their game by cutting off the ball before it reaches their goal shooter and it worked for us in the first two quarters and after I think we allowed the game to run away from us.

Nadine Bryan (left) taking control in mid-court during yesterday's opening match of the National Commercial Bank (NCB) Sunshine Savers Tri-nation netball tournament at the National Indoor Sports Centre. At right is Simone Forbes who scored 25 goals from 29 attempts as Jamaica whipped Trinidad and Tobago 59-30. The series continues today at 7 p.m. with Jamaica against South Africa. - ricardo makyn