The SPAR Baby Proteas continued their winning ways at the Netball World Youth Cup on Tuesday with an emphatic 74-22 victory over Singapore, their third win on the trot in Gaborone, Botswana.
The South African Under-21s got off to a flying start and were eight goals up before Singapore scored their first, midway through the quarter.
By the end of the quarter, the Baby Proteas were 16-9 ahead and continued to stretch their lead as the match progressed.
It was a similar situation in the second quarter, with Singapore not scoring for the first eight minutes, by which time South Africa were 16 goals ahead.
Goalkeeper Stephanie Brandt and goal defence Jasmine Ziegelmeier did an outstanding job in the circle, making life difficult for the Singapore shooters. By halftime, South Africa had extended their lead to 38-14.
Both teams brought on fresh legs after the break. Singapore got an early goal, but managed only five in the third quarter and three in the fourth.
South African coach, Dorette Badenhorst, said she was surprised that the victory had been so easy. ‘I expected it to be much tougher,’ she said. ‘Singapore has a sports school where talented players are identified early on and trained. So I was expecting more.
‘We concentrated on our own game and tried out various strategies that we want to use against Australia on Wednesday.
‘I was also able to rest some players who are still recovering from the very physical match against Zimbabwe on Sunday,’ said Badenhorst.
She said the team were looking forward to the match against Australia. ‘We’ve done our analysis and we’ll be watching the videos as we prepare to take them on. We believe we can do it.’
Main picture of Melodine Jacobs (main picture) and Nicole Amiras in action courtesy of Reg Caldecott