Wednesday 21, April-2004 by Pamala Proverbs Compliments of Nation News

Defending Division One netball champions C.O.Williams Rangers continued their championship hunt on Monday night at the Netball Stadium defeating ly-promoted Banks Spurs 57-24 in a one-sided affair.

Rangers claimed all the intervals 15-8, 27-12 and 38-20. But despite being beaten, Spurs looked ready for the premier league, their major downfall being not having a dominant shooter able to convert attempts into goals.

Rangers on the other hand looked their clinical best, absorbing the early defensive pressure from the Bayland team and converting their attempts despite some good defensive work and close marking by Chekivah Shepherd at goal defence and goal-keeper, Rainee Cyrus.

The defending champions established their dominance from the first quarter. Playing with five players fresh from the world tournament in Jamaica last year – Cheryl Squires (goal shooter), Olivia Walcott (goal attack), Dionne Quarless (wing attack), Don Small (centre), and Rhe-ann Niles goal keeper – they made no bones of their mission which was to obliterate the inexperienced Spurs side. < Read more >

May 14 2004 by Pamala Proverbs

Defending Division 1 netball champions CO Williams Rangers beat Pine Hill St Barnabas 44-37 on Wednesday night to move closer to the 2004 title.

Rangers led all the way, 10-8 after the first period, 23-16 at half-time and 31-8 after three periods, finishing strong for the comfortable result.

Rangers looked the more organised team from the start, moving the ball fluidly through St Barnabas’ mid-court. They faltered, however, when they reached the shooters as Cheryl Squires at goal-shoot, and Olivia Walcott at goal-attack had problems with the long reach of St Barnabas’ goal keeper Shonette Azore, and goal defence Jacqueline Browne.

Squires and Walcott combined for 19 attempts but only converted ten, while at the other end, St Barnabas goal shooter Denese Alleyne and goal attack Marvalene Neblett combined scored eight of 11. Read more

Thursday 20, May-2004 by Pamala Proverbs

C.O.Williams Rangers closed out the first round of the Barbados Netball Association’s Division 1 tournament unbeaten Monday, with a comprehensive 62-36 thrashing of Unique Sports Club at the Netball Stadium.

The game was scrappy, with Rangers making two significant changes to their line-up in Linda Harris at the goal shooter position and mainstay goal shooter Cheryl Squires taking up the goal defence position for Sherryann Martindale, who was out with an injury.

The two changes impacted on the team significantly, as the defensive strength of Martindale was missing at the back for Rangers. Cheryl Steel, goal attack for Unique, had one of her best games all season. Dictating the pace on the Unique’s attack, she was able to run the plays freely and pick up her best stats thus far, scoring 14 of 19 attempts.

Despite Steel’s success, her other teammates had average inputs, and Rangers led at each interval, 13-8 after the first quarter, 29-18 at half-time, and 49-29 going into the final stanza. < Read more>

Compliments of Nation News

Saturday 03, July-2004
C.O. Williams Rangers rule!

The netball dynasty completed a perfect season on Wednesday night at the Netball Stadium, outclassing Pine Hill St Barnabas in all areas and wrenching the knockout title which their oppenents held with a 42-37 victory in the final.

Rangers with this victory have won both major championships for the year, league and knock-out Cup and are thus the champion of champions.

They looked set for this title from the start, leading all intervals 14-12, 26-22 and 34-30 to finish with a comfortable five-goal cushion.

Both teams started cautiously. With a title on the line the atmosphere on court was tense, which always favours defences and the defences took over, forcing a relatively low scoring game.

Caribbean Netball

Sporting islands

Rangers goal-keeper Rhe-ann Niles and Don Small at goal-defence were efficient and dominant over St Barnabas’ goal-shooter Denise Alleyne and goal-attack Marvalene Neblett causing the St Barnabas coaches to switch these two around in the third and fourth quarters.

The real defensive challenge, however, came when St Barnabas switched Mellsia Browne from wing defence to goal defence to team up with sister Jacqueline Browne who played the goal keeper position.

The Browne sisters limited Rangers shooters to just four attempts each in that quarter.

The lucky thing for Rangers was that their shooters Cheryl Squires and Linda Harris were on and both scored a perfect four of four for eight goals.

St Barnabas’ shooters, however, did not capitalise on their team’s added boost.

Marvalene Neblett was limited to four attempts in this quarter and scored two, while Alleyne had the most attempts of all the shooters in the quarter, eight, and scored six.

St Barnabas however eased the pressure when they moved Browne back to the centre court in favour of Alicia Harding.

Harding posed no threat at all. With her shooters not getting the attempts in the third quarter, Rangers coach Sandra Bruce put her best player Olivia Walcott at the goal-attack and it was good night St Barnabas.

Walcott brought new life to Rangers’ shooting circle and the Rangers party started despite a number of unforced errors by the Rangers attack in the final minutes of the game.

The shooting stats at the end of the game recorded Squires 20 of 25, Harris 18 of 27 and Walcott 4 of 6 for Rangers while Alleyne scored 21 of 30 and Neblett 16 of 25 for St Barnabas.

Compliments of the Nation News

BARBADOS