Netball World Cup: Singapore lose 32-75 to Trinidad and Tobago

Singapore (blue) defend against Trinidad and Tobago. (Photo: Narelle Spangher/NWC2015 Media)

Sydney, Wednesday, August 12, 2015 — Singapore lost their second qualification round game 32-75 to Trinidad and Tobago and will now compete in the playoffs for 13th to 16th positions at the 2015 Netball World Cup (NWC).

Singapore will get a rest day tomorrow to regroup and consider their game plan for the last qualification round game against Zambia on Friday, August 14.

Zambia, at 20th in the world rankings, are ranked lower than Singapore. However, the low ranking could be largely due to the lack of international games. Zambia have shown that they are competitive after losing narrowly by eight goals (51-59) to Fiji.

Singapore are looking to improve on their 15th position from the last World Cup and to achieve this, they will need to win their last qualification match against Zambia. A win will likely pit them against the weakest team in Pool H, Sri Lanka, whom Singapore has beaten 56-43 during the preliminary stages.

The first quarter started with both teams cautious with their play and executing simple passes. It was Trinidad and Tobago who first found a way to break down the Singapore’s defence by pumping high balls to their 1.93m tall Goal Shooter, Samantha Wallace, who was very mobile and could shoot from anywhere in the circle. Trinidad and Tobago quickly sped ahead to a 12-3 lead after nine minutes.

Singapore were forced to shoot from mid and long-range most of the time as their attackers struggled to get the ball to their shooters, with their opponents’ defenders (1.8m and 1.93m) towering over them. The quarter ended with Singapore trailing 8-21.

Changes were made to the Singapore side for the second quarter and were effective for awhile as Singapore managed to hold the world number 9 team to keep the quarter score level (5-5) for the first five minutes. However, with their opponents’ bench chanting “Defence! Defence!” whenever Singapore were attacking, the taller, bigger and athletic Trinidad and Tobago girls soon regained their momentum and pulled away to lead 41-17 at half time.

Olivia Flanagan came on in the third quarter and added fresh legs for Singapore, but with their opponents posting a 92 percent shooting accuracy, Singapore trailed 24-58 at the end of the third.

With possibly the next game in mind, Singapore head coach Ruth Aitken rotated and played all bench players to ensure that they got more court-time as Singapore went down 32-75.

Aitken said, “I think there’s no doubt that Trinidad are a very good side and they had a proud history of world netball finishing first way back in 1979. They also managed to pick up big scalps along the way, so we were probably a bit flat.

“I think we struggled to find space on court in the first quarter particularly and I thought Shelby came along very well when she came on and open things up. But the hard thing is that when we were playing quite conservatively and very close together, that helped the Trinidad defence and they worked off each other really well. So we had to try to get them to open court, let the ball go and then the spaces came.”

“I was pleased that we got everyone out there today which was very important going into the rest day tomorrow and then three games in a row. It is very good to see Pamela come back on and played well today and that’s very important that we know if we need her then we can count on her and it’s really about resting legs.

“At the world stage, the teams play a very explosive game and so for our players to be able to continue to play explosively, they need to have enough recovery and keep their feet as free as possible,” added Aitken.

Singapore vice-captain, Chen Huifen, said, “The game is not easy. Their bodies are big and they are very athletic. We went into the game knowing what’s coming for us and having the mentality that we must play harder. I thought the intensity that we brought out was quite good. We had some nice patches of play.”

On their game plan against Zambia, Chen commented, “We will watch footage of them and probably identify their strengths and weaknesses and then use our strength to counter them.”

Singapore Starting Lineup
Charmaine Soh (GS)
Chen Huifen (GA)
Kimberly Lim (WA)
Nurul Baizura (C)
Premila Hirubalan (WD)
Lin Qingyi (GD)
Chen Li Li (GK)

Trinidad and Tobago Starting Lineup
Samantha Wallace (GS)
Joelisa Cooper (GA)
Rhonda John-Davis (WA)
Candice Guerero (C)
Onella Jack (WD)
Kielle Connelly (GD)
Daystar Swift (GK)

Scoring by Quarter
Trinidad and Tobago vs Singapore
1st Q: 21-8
2nd Q: 41-17 (20-9)
3rd Q: 58-24 (17-7)
4th Q: 75-32 (17-8)

Shooting Accuracy
Trinidad & Tobago
Overall: 91%
Samantha Wallace – 27/31 (87%)
Joelisa Cooper – 14/14 (100%)
Afeisha Noel – 8/10 (80%)
Kalifa McCollin – 26/27 (96%)