T&T dethrone B’dos to capture Jean Pierre U16 title

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados:

Trinidad and Tobago are the new champions of the Jean Pierre Caribbean Youth Under-16 Netball tournament after playing unbeaten throughout the competition.

T&T clinched their first-ever title by defeating St. Lucia 34-21 in their final match on Saturday at the Wildey Gymnasium, to finish with an unbeaten 5-0 record and dethrone three-time defending champions Barbados.

The Baby Gems were forced to settle for silver this time around after coming from behind to register a hard fought 30-24 victory over Grenada, to improve their record to 4-1.

St. Lucia placed third with a 3-2 record.

But the night belonged to T&T, who held a slim 8-6 lead after the opening quarter, but extended it to five (18-13) at the half.

The contest was decided in the third quarter with T&T holding their opponents to just one goal while scoring 10 of their own to open up a sizeable 28-14 lead heading into the final period.

T&T also took home the top individual awards, with Shian Lewis being crowned Most Valuable Player (MVP), Shian Lewis won the award for Best Shooter and Makayla Grant was named Most Accurate Shooter.

T&T also won the team shooting competition with 128 goals, while Barbados placed second with 120 goals and St Lucia third with 119 goals.

- CMC