Jamaica beat England 61-53 to lift inaugural Rhone-Hornsby netball trophy
Howard Walker / Our Today
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Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls defeated England Roses 61-53 in the Vitality Netball Horizon Series here in the National Indoor Sports Centre in St Andrew, winning the series 2-1 and capturing the beautiful Rhone-Hornsby trophy.
With the four Test series locked at 1-1 with one game drawn, the Jamaicans turned in their most dominant display by winning both games on home soil following their 50-49 win on Monday.
The first game in the series was drawn 49-49 in Manchester, England, on November 16 before the Roses took the next game 55-47 on November 17.
The inaugural series then switched to Jamaica and the Sunshine Girls won both Tests on local soil on the back of some outstanding performances in front of the Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Opposition Leader Mark Golding, who met the teams after the final whistle.
The Jamaicans, ranked fourth in the world, outbattled the world number two-ranked England despite not playing a Test in 15 months.
The Sunshine Girlz trailed 11-15 after the first quarter but led by two at the half 28-26. They never looked back and at the end of the third quarter Jamaica had opened up a three-goal advantage, leading 42-39, and went further away winning by eight goals, 61-53.
Wing Attack Rhea Dixon was adjudged player-of-the-match while skipper Shamera Sterling-Humphrey was recognised for some sterling defending.
Romelda Aikens-George led the scoring with 40 goals from 43 attempts and was ably supported by Shanice Beckford, netting 21 from 25 attempts.
England’s Liv Tchine was the top scorer with 42 goals from 47 attempts and Lios Pearson had 11 from 13 attempts.
The International Test series is a new competition between the two netball powerhouses, with two home matches played in each country every year.
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