Hesron Kapanga
Namibia’s Debmarine Desert Jewels won a bronze medal on Saturday after putting up an impressive performance against Samoa at the 2024 Pacific Netball Series in Brisbane, Australia.
The Netball Australia’s Pacific Netball Series is an international tournament that provides opportunities for teams from Australia, the Pacific, and beyond to compete for world-ranking points.
The champion receives support from the Australian Government’s high-performance PacificAus Sports programme.
On Saturday, the senior national netball team showed resilience and determination to dominate Samoa 54-36, a team that defeated them 47-55 in their opening match earlier this week at the Nissan Arena in Brisbane.
In their third-place play-offs, the Debmarine Desert Jewels led the game from the first quarter by seven goals. Namibia’s goal shooter Louise Kausehue scored 11 of the 13 shots she got while Anna Kaspar added five goals from the six, she had. The quarter ended 16-9 in their favour.
The second quarter saw Samoa standing their ground, preventing Namibia from scoring more goals. But Kaspar, who was on fire on the day, maintained her 100% record in this quarter, netting all nine attempts. At the same time, Kausehue added three goals from the five attempts. Mwale Mulenamaswe and Cornelia Mupenda’s combination at the back saw them winning more possession and turnover balls for Namibia.
The quarter ended 12-9 and an overall lead of 28-18 for Namibia who extended their lead to 10 goals.
The third quarter saw Namibia showing improved precision, accurate passing, and an increase in tempo to outscore their opponent once again by seven points. Namibia, took an overall lead of 17 points as the quarter ended 16-09 for an overall score of 44-27 in their favour.
The final quarter saw Samoa dominating play as Namibia made numerous passing errors and gave away turnover balls, which played to Samoa’s advantage. But Kausehue and Kaspar’s accuracy on goals once again won the Desert Jewels that quarter 10-09. This was the only quarter where the two teams had a close contest, but the Namibian girls added a point to their overall scores to win the match by 18 points.
Speaking after the match, national team coach Julene Meyer said the team had a great game and an all-round performance from attack, midcourt and defence to win them the bronze medal.
– Nampa