The third day started off with an exciting match between the best-ranked team in this competition, Northern Ireland and the Singapore Invitational Team.

Singapore Invitational had a strong start to the first quarter as they took a two-point lead; Cassandra Soh scored the first goal within two mintues of the start. In defence, the Northern Ireland team played an extremely compact game towards the end of the quarter and was able to break the solid wing players from the Singapore Invitational team, eventually leading by 2 points at the break, 10-8.

Both teams began the second quarter with tight marking, as Northern Ireland took advantage of their long passes to keep up their momentum against the Singapore Invitational team.
Singapore Invitational’s quick short passing game was ineffective, and as a result were not able to capitalize on goal defence, Sera Dakuitoga’s aggressive blocking and defending. Singapore Invitational’s trailed 20-15 at the halfway mark.

Northern Ireland started the third quarter on the front foot, as they used their greatest strength, long passes, to notch four consecutive goals, a vast contrast to their opposition as the Singapore Invitational team managed only six of their 10 attempts, as a result of the opposition’s strong defence. The score at the end of the third quarter was 33-21.

The final quarter was a hustle for the Singapore Invitational team as Northern Ireland’s goal shooter, Jenna Bowman, put up a clinical attacking display, scoring consistently throughout the quarter. Northern Ireland made a quick change in strategy, transitioning to a short passing game. The aggressive strategy from the Northern Ireland team resulted in the team triumphant with a big 50 – 29 win.

Score

Northern Ireland vs Singapore Invitational 
Q1: 10 – 8
Q2: 20 – 15 (10 – 7)
Q3: 33 – 21 (13 – 6)
Q4: 50 – 29 (17 – 8)

Quote from Coach/Manager

Julie Kimber, Northern Ireland Head Coach
The girls worked really really hard in defence, we made a few changes and used different combinations. Still we need to work on our first shot, we need to improve our shooting stats a little bit. All the players stepped up and worked really really hard, and we’re really pleased we won it by 21, and will go into the Chinese Taipei match on a high after three straight wins.

Our goal attack is quite small, she took a lot of hits yesterday, it’s quite physical when you play netball now, at three quarter time she didn’t feel very well so we made a change, and I think the change paid off.

It’s good to see more options ahead of tomorrow’s matches as well. Moving forward we need to improve the shooting stats, defensively we work really really hard and pick off a lot of balls, but that last goal needs to just go in.

Siti Haron, Singapore Invitational Manager 
The team played really well, considering that it’s a relatively new team put together only recently. I believe the girls can work on their communication better on the court.

Quote from Player

Hannah Elizabeth Broederlow, Singapore Invitational Player 
It was an absolute pleasure today playing against teams from Botswana and Northern Ireland. For my team, I think we performed fantastically on the court although I believe there is room for better communication among each other on court.