Calypso Girls down US 60-15

Barbados beat Canada 49-23 to follow up Thursday’s 62-26 triumph over Antigua and Barbuda.

And Trinidad and Tobago, fresh from a 56-34 win against St Kitts and Nevis on Friday, trounced the United States 60-15 in one-sided encounters at the Garfield Sobers Gymnasium.

Both Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, the favourites along with St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), in the battle for the two available qualifying spots, had injury scares that resulted in the substitution of their key goal shooter.

But the injury to Barbadian Lydia Bishop, who shot at 72 per cent for her 23 goals from 32 attempts, was not serious as that of Trinidadian Janelle Barker, who appeared to have twisted her ankle after nailing 44 of 51 attempts.

Whereas, Bishop walked freely to the substitutes’ bench after receiving on-the-spot treatment from the team doctor, Barker, had to be assisted off the court late in the third quarter and was still limping when she rejoined her teammates at the end of the match after getting medical attention.

In Barker’s absence, Trinidad and Tobago, already without the experienced shooter Anastacia Wilson, who is unavailable for the championships, switched around their line-up.

Wing attack Tricia Liverpool was pushed into the shooting circle and captain Simone Bowen-Sandy moved from wing defence to take up her position while Ayana Hamlett came on at wing defence.

Liverpool looked out of her depth at the goal-shooter position, only converting four of 13 shots, leaving the team’s live-wire goal attack Lystra Zamore, who had been brilliantly orchestrating the Trinidadians’ offence to shoulder the shooting responsibilities in the final quarter.

Zamore, who also had a stint at wing attack, finished the game with a commendable 12 goals from 14 attempts while Simone Morgan missed the three shots she attempted in a brief third quarter outing.

For the out-of-sorts American side, which trailed 4-17, 9-32, 12-47, goal shooter Lisa Washington sank 14 of her 26 attempts and goal attack Taniesha Morrison added the other goal from five shots.

Earlier, Barbados led Canada 12-5 and 23-11 after the first two quarters but were outscored 15-12 in the penultimate quarter by their improving opponents before finishing with a strong 17-9 last quarter effort.

Goal attack Olivia Walcott out in a solid 65.6 shooting performance to end with 21 goals from 32 attempts while substitute goal shooter Charlene Mathurin, who came on for the injured Bishop, netted five of seven shots as the Canadians made only four interceptions in the defensive third.

Barbados, who rested their veteran centre Don Small, who has over 100 caps for her country, and brought on the youthful Kizzy Marville in the third quarter, defensive trio of goalkeeper Latonia Blackman (20), captain Jacqueline Browne (13) and Sherry Martindale (ten) combined for 43 interceptions.

Canada’s goal shooter Marilyn Hope was inconsistent, burying only 14 of 25 shots for a 56 per cent average before she was replaced by the accurate Sabrina Versteeg, who scored all five of her shots in the third quarter.

Goal attack Sharon Butler only missed one of her five attempts. (CMC)