Story by Colin Tung/Red Sports. Photos by Clara Yuan/Red Sports
Pamela Liew (GA) of Singapore had the opportunity to strike up a partnership with Charmaine Soh (Goal Shooter) for the first time this tournament, coming on with under four minutes left to play in the third quarter. She made seven of 13 attempts to help Singapore earn a third straight win. (Photo 1 © Clara Yuan/Red Sports)
OCBC Arena, Tuesday, 9 December, 2014 — With time expired, twice-capped Pamela Liew (Goal Attack), the only new addition to the Singapore netball team that had competed at the Asian Netball Championships in September, had the game’s final shot in her hands. She took aim and promptly converted it for Singapore to emerge 47–20 winners over Ireland in their third match at the Netball Nations Cup in front of an official crowd number of 1,169.
Having come on with under four minutes left in the third quarter, Pamela had also scored that quarter’s final goal to give Singapore a 35–17 lead. She was one of four players (including Chen Lili, Anna Soo, and Natalie Long) who made their first appearances at this tournament against the world no. 28 — the lowest-ranked opponents of the six competing nations.
Pamela said after the match, “I was told to go on court with only about three minutes left (in the third quarter). I was quite nervous because it’s my first time on court so I had to calm myself down. First shot (which Pamela missed), I think too much. After that, I told myself to stop thinking and just shoot so the shot went in.”
After five-point wins in the last two matches against Papua New Guinea and Botswana, Singapore coach, Ruth Aitken, expressed satisfaction at the night’s significantly larger margin of victory. She also explained her decision to give the fringe players a run out.
She said, “It’s a long week. We need to make sure that the (reserve) players keep engaged into the game because the team can grow quite quickly and, if you’re not part of it, if you’re on the bench for too many games, it actually can get away on you. So I wanted to keep them in touch and also wanted to just make sure that we were resting some legs that have been working very hard over the last couple of days.”
Commenting on the performances of those fringe players, she also said, “(They were) probably a little nervous. You’ve got your first test in the arena and that’s really important. We wouldn’t have left them out there if they weren’t coping.”
The Singapore team had taken some time to warm up, leading Irish coach Joan Young to describe the game as one of “two halves”. But, once the Singapore ladies got into their groove after the half-time interval, they pulled away from their winless opponents, limiting the Irish to just two and three goals respectively in the last two quarters while pouring in 14 and 12 respectively on the other end.
The second-half performance saw Singapore build on a half-time six-goal cushion to win by 27 eventually.
Looking ahead to Singapore’s top-of-the-table clash against the only other unbeaten team in the tournament, Samoa, tomorrow night, Ruth said, “It’s going to be a huge challenge. Another step up. Obviously, they are the form team. They are really efficient in their attacking. They use their bodies very well and get the ball into space very well. It’s going to be a massive step up for us but that’s what it’s all about. We’re looking forward to it.”
In the day’s other matches, Samoa beat Botswana 49–34 while Malaysia beat Papua New Guinea 52–43.
Scores by Quarter
Singapore vs. Ireland
Q1: 10–8
Q2: 11–7 (21–15)
Q3: 14–2 (35–17)
Q4: 12–3 (47–20)
Singapore Starting Line-up
Lin Qingyi (Goal Keeper, co-vice-captain), Premila Hirubalan (Goal Defence), Nur Aqilah Afiqah (Wing Defence), Anna Soo (Centre), Nurul Baizura (Wing Attack), Chen Huifen (Goal Attack, co-vice-captain), Charmaine Soh (Goal Shooter)
Ireland Starting Line-up
Hannah Dwyer (Wing Defence), Wendy Howell (Goal Defence), Jan Hynes (Goal Shooter), Rebekah Meinders (Wing Attack), Niamh Murphy (Centre, captain), Emma Wakefield (Goal Attack), Genevieve Slater (Goal Keeper)
Related Stories
Singapore off to winning start against higher-ranked Papua New Guinea
Singapore beat Botswana 46–41 for second straight win
| Played | Win | Lost | Draw | For | Against | Goal Average | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samoa | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 300 | 184 | 163.04% | 10 |
| Singapore | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 228 | 190 | 120.00% | 8 |
| Malaysia | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 192 | 227 | 84.58% | 4 |
| Botswana | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 235 | 216 | 180.80% | 6 |
| Papua New Guinea | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 231 | 251 | 92.03% | 4 |
| Ireland | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 159 | 277 | 57.40% | 0 |
Results
Sunday, December 7
Singapore vs. Papua New Guinea: 47–42
Ireland vs. Botswana: 39–50
Samoa vs. Malaysia: 56–30
Monday, December 8
Ireland vs. Malaysia: 36–40
Papua New Guinea vs. Samoa: 44–58
Singapore vs. Botswana: 46–41
Tuesday, December 9
Samoa vs. Botswana: 49–34
Malaysia vs. Papua New Guinea: 52–43
Singapore vs. Ireland: 47–20
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