Papua New Guinea beat Singapore convincingly at Fisher & Paykel Nations Cup

Story by Lorna Campbell. Pictures by Les Tan and Lai Jun Wei.

Toa Payoh Sports Hall, September 3, 2008 – Papua New Guinea (PNG) topped the table at the Fisher & Paykel Nations Cup after a convincing 67-48 victory over Singapore while Samoa got their first points of the tournament with a 75-58 win over Sri Lanka.

Toa Sports Hall echoed cheers of "Let's go Singapore, let's go" but the support could not lift the hosts to the level of their opposition and they were trailing 18-42 by halftime.

It was a tall goal shooter that yet again proved the sticking point for Singapore as 188cm Nettie Sau received a flow of high balls into the circle and she converted 55 of her 64 shots at goal.

PNG have the most experienced squad of the tournament with six players remaining from the team that finished second to Singapore in the 2006 Four Nations Cup. They were out for revenge and against a developmental home side they quickly found their rhythm and dominated the opening 30 minutes.

PNG Coach, Pole Kassman said, "We have a very versatile team and we played our strongest goal shooter today which made the difference. I was a bit disappointed with how we played in the final quarter but I believe we can win this tournament. We will be ready for a tough match against Sri Lanka on Friday and will need to work hard to keep the ball away from their shooter."

Singapore started the match looking very nervous and uncomfortable on court. The noise levels were low and they were clearly frustrated by the one way traffic on court.

Talking about the opening half, Singapore coach Lisa Beehag said, "The girls started very nervously and made a lot of simple, basic errors that let us down. If we'd stuck to our game plan from the outset then you would have seen a much closer match."

Co-captain Jean Ng who played in defence against the powerful shooter said, "We didn't stick to game plan and allowed them too much space in the first half. PNG have a lot of experienced players and there are a lot of familiar faces from 2006. We need to do the simple things better but I was very pleased that we persisted and came back strongly towards the end of the match."

In the second half they came out with renewed vigour and were much more vocal, especially team rookie Rachel Yim at goal shooter. Both teams scored 13 goals (31-55) in the third quarter and Singapore finished very strongly winning the final 15 minutes 17-12 but the first half margin was just too big to close down.

"We aimed to win the final two quarters and we drew one, won one so that was very encouraging. Rachel, who only played her second test tonight, stepped up to the mark and her attitude on court was great and really lifted the girls. Grace Sim also impressed me as we needed someone to take control on court so it was great to see the new girls filling that role.

"For Friday's game and to ensure our spot in the playoffs on Saturday, we need to reassess our game plans and review tonight's performance. Botswana are very athletic and have elements of a mix of styles in their game that we will need to counter. "

Samoa played their last group match this evening against Sri Lanka and improved yet further from their previous three outings to get their first win of the week.

It was not an easy task but this young team dug deep, worked around the aggressive Sri Lankan opposition and did their best to prevent their lethal shooting weapon Sivalingam from getting as many chances as she'd been granted in previous games.

The girls in blue led by seven points at the break (37-30) and stretched ahead 55-47 in the third, thanks to some solid shooting by Malu Faasavalu (GS) and Shirin Chang (GA) who together scored the most points in the competition so far.

Frances Solia was a much happier captain tonight after their victory and they are now in with a chance of making it to Saturday's playoffs. "Tonight we finally put together the performance we knew we were capable of. In my opinion, it's more important that the young girls learn from their games this week rather than make the finals on Saturday and we have done that so I am happy.

"Our win tonight was down to really hard team defence. All the intercepts and taps had to be done outside the circle and that happened for us so credit to the whole team for their effort. We'll find out on Friday if we've done enough to earn another match on Saturday."

PNG's victory tonight is the biggest margin of the competition so far and they are guaranteed a place in the grand final. After everyone enjoys a rest day tomorrow Singapore will play Botswana on Friday in an attempt to secure their spot in the finals. Sri Lanka will tackle the dominant PNG as they also try to make it to the last day and Samoa will be keeping their fingers-crossed for results to go their way. It will all go down to the final matches and potentially a count back on match scores.

Results:
Day 1:
Sri Lanka 66 Singapore 63
1st:13-17; HT: 31-32; 3rd: 45-47; FT: 66-63

Botswana 49 Samoa 34
1st:17-11; HT:19-19; 3rd: 38-28; FT:49-34

Day 2:
Singapore 48 Samoa 41
1st: 12-7; HT: 26-20; 3rd: 37-32; FT: 48-41

Papua New Guinea 57 Botswana 49
1st: 14-15; HT: 28-24; 3rd: 44-35; FT: 57-49

Day 3:
Papua New Guinea 54 Samoa 49
1st: 16-14; HT: 26-29; 3rd: 41-37; FT: 54-49

Botswana 68 Sri Lanka 61
1st: 16-16; HT: 32-33; 3rd: 51-47; FT: 68-61

Day 4:
Papua New Guinea 67 Singapore 48
1st: 18-7; HT: 42-18; 3rd: 55-31; FT: 67-48

Samoa 75 Sri Lanka 58
1st: 18-14; HT: 37-30; 3rd: 55-47; FT: 75-58

Remaining fixtures:
4th September - OFF DAY
5th September
6.00pm - Papua New Guinea vs Sri Lanka
8.00pm - Singapore vs Botswana
6th September
12.30pm - 3rd vs 4th
2.10pm - KidzNet Exhibition Game
3.00pm - 1st vs 2nd
4.25pm - Prize Presentation