Papua New Guinea and Botswana gave the audience an exhilarating game as both teams showed intense offence and defence in what can be considered a tightly contested affair. The match ended with a score of 51 – 40, in favour of Papua New Guinea.
First quarter started with powerful game play as Papua New Guinea’s Team Captain, Lua Rikis, scored their first goal within a minute into the match. Botswana didn’t hesitate and retaliated immediately with two goals. Both teams were aggressive in their approach, often getting the scores tied. The first quarter ended with Botswana leading, 12 – 11.
The second quarter began very much like the first, with Papua New Guinea scoring first and Botswana keeping their attacks tight. For the first 5 minutes of the quarter, Botswana led with a 2 – point margin, closing the score gaps. However, Papua New Guinea’s defence was tough, leading them to catch up, evening out the score and eventually ending the quarter with a total point of 25 against Botswana’s 20.
Papua New Guinea came out strong for the third quarter as they scored the first goal yet again. Botswana played up their offence and scored 2 goals within the next 5 minutes, closing in the score gap. Despite Botswana’s rigorous attacks, Papua New Guinea continued to take the lead, ending the game with a 9 – point goal difference.
Papua New Guinea Team Captain, Lua Rikis
“Coming from our learnings yesterday, I think we did great for today’s match, we came out strong and got the results that we wanted against Botswana. There were some injuries sustained but everyone from the team is prepared to take on the court and it’s like nothing changed and it was all good for the girls.”
“Tomorrow’s match is against Singapore and even if they have home court advantage, I think what we need to do is to stick to our game plan, like what we did today, but to make it better and work on the areas we left off and just keep going until the end.”
Botswana Team Captain, Tumisang Bagidi
“The match was intense and even though we lost the game, I feel that we gave our best, we defended the ball and our offence was great as well. We will definitely work on our long passes as that’s what most of our mistake was from today’s game. We’re looking forward to winning all the remaining games and definitely our aim is to be in the finals.”
HIGHLIGHTS
- Papua New Guinea Team Captain, Lua Rikis, scored 92%
- Both teams scored 82% of total attempts
| MATCH STATISTICS | ||
| PAPUA NEW GUINEA | BOTSWANA | |
| Score | 51 | 40 |
| Total Attempts | 62 | 49 |
| Goal % | 82 | 82 |
Photo Credit: Netball Singapore
Source: Nur Fahimah, Netball Singapore
