Ian Allen-Jamaica's Romelda Aiken grabs a rebound above Australia goal keeper Susan Furhman and centre Natalie Van Bertouch in game two of the Supreme Ventures Sunshine series at the National Indoor Sports Centre last night. The game ended in a 49-49 tie.

Robert Bailey, Star Writer

Jamaica's Sunshine Girls put on a brave showing as they battled to a 49-49 tie with world number-one ranked Australia, in their second match of the three-Test Supreme Ventures Sunshine Series, at the National Indoor Sports Centre last night.

The Jamaicans began the match confidently as they quickly raced to a three-point lead at the end of the first quarter. That was as a result of their precise passing, clever off-the-ball movements, and also perfect shooting from Romelda Aiken, who has 10 goals from 10 attempts and captain Simone Forbes four goals from four tries.

However, the visitors rallied strongly in the second period through goal shooter and captain Sharelle McMahon, who netted a perfect seven goals from seven attempts, as they outscored the hosts 13-10 to tie the game at 24-24 at half-time.

With the home crowd cheering them on in the third period, the Sunshine Girls came out very aggressively as they battled their way to a 37-36 lead over the Australians at the end of the third period. Aiken continued to be outstanding for the hosts, as she scored 10 of Jamaican's 13 goals in the quarter.


final possession

The fourth period was entertaining, as both teams traded basket for basket down the stretch. However, the Australians went up 42-40, with four minutes remaining in the match. But the Connie Francis-coached Jamaicans rallied to tie the game on the final possession of the match.

Aiken, who was in excellent scoring touches for the Jamaicans, ended the match with a game-high 35 goals from 36 attempts. Aiken received solid support from captain Simone Forbes, 12 goals from 13 attempts and debutante Marsh Murphy two goals from five tries. McMahon ended with 24 goals from 32 tries and received good support from Natalie Medhurst 17 from 19.

Francis was delighted with her team's performance.

"I think it was an excellent game from our girls," said Francis.

"I thought our shooters did a wonderful job for us, and the defence also stood up against the Australian shooters and this is a plus for us," Francis added.

Australian coach Norman Plummer said: "I didn't feel things went wrong at all because I thought we weren't able to contest a lot of the balls,"

"I think that we were at the wrong end of the whistle tonight, but that is something that we are going have to adjust to," Plummer added.

Game three of the series will be at the same venue on Sunday at 5:00 pm.