The opening match on day 5 of the Mission Foods Nations Cup saw Botswana defeat a helpless Chinese Taipei team 72-25.

Botswana, who has qualified for the bronze medal match, began with a series of sublime passes and impressive attacking plays, which saw them effortlessly score five goals within the first four minute. Portia Rasekhumba was a standout performer in the first quarter, scoring all 11 attempts. The quarter ended 22-4.

Jolted awake by the devastating first-quarter score, Chinese Taipei showed tenacity and sheer determination as they played well in the second quarter to trail by only two points halfway in. With confidence on a high, the Chinese Taipei team went on 3-0 run midway through the second quarter before Botswana picked up their game and eventually took the quarter 13-10.

Botswana consolidated their strong end to the first half as they dominated going 8-2 in a span of nine third-quarter minutes. 18-year-old Letang Mogotlhwane, Botswana’s goal defence showed that age was not a factor as she demonstrated physical prowess and wit beyond her years. Although successive interceptions from the Chinese Taipei team helped thwart some goals, the relentless Botswana players pulled through to lead 53-18.

The final quarter saw minor adjustments to the Botswana team and with the Nations Cup second highest scorer Hildah Binang coming on as goal shooter, the match ended comfortably in favour of Botswana 72-25.

Moving forward, the Botswana team will be competing for the third and fourth place in the finals on Saturday against hosts and world number 15 Singapore, whilst Chinese Taipei secures the fifth place in the Nations Cup.

Highlights

• The game’s top scorer was Botswana’s Portia Rasekhumba, who scored 23 goals during the match
• Hildah Binang finished the match with a 85% shooting record scoring 22 out of 26 attempts. 
• Overall, Botswana had a shooting record of 88 while Chinese Taipei finished the game with a shooting record of 66%. 
• Botswana, won the match against the Chinese Taipei team, thrashing them with 72-25.

Score
Botswana vs Chinese Taipei
Q1: 22 – 4
Q2: 35 – 14 (13 – 10)
Q3: 53 – 18 (18 – 4)
Q4: 72 – 25 (19 – 7)

Quote from Head Coaches

Neo Kebuang, Botswana Head Coach
We played this game to prepare for the match against Singapore tomorrow. We’ve given the substitutes a chance to play and prepare for the next game tomorrow. Letang and Sarona performed very well, and we’re building their confidence as we’re hosting the tournament in 2017.

Our defence in the circle needs to improve, we had lapses in concentration. The only player shooting on their team was the GS and we couldn’t even prevent her from shooting. In the morning we are going to train and work on our defence in the circle

Goh Seck Tuck, Chinese Taipei Head Coach 
As you can see it’s a pretty experienced team and although the effort level is 100%, some of the movements and timings are not really there. But they have all worked very, very hard and that’s what we want as this is an international game. Being part of an international competition and playing against world ranking teams is an easy feat – you can choose to run and not participate, or work very hard towards it. But, we chose to participate. There are bound to be setbacks, but this is all part and parcel of growing up, part of the development towards netball in Taiwan.