Photo: Thristina Harwood has improved as the season has progressed and could be important for the “Birds” tonight
The first match of the Berger Elite League’s best of three final gets underway today, Friday May 9, at the Leila Robinson Court in Kingston starting at 7:40 pm.
The opening match will see the two losing teams from last Sunday’s semi final battle each other at the same venue starting at 6:00 pm. St. James Sharpes who lost to Kingston Humming Birds will take on Manchester Spurs who lost to St. Catherine Racers.
The Humming Birds come into the final after losing its first match in the preliminary round to St. James Sharpes and then winning its next five matches including defeating St. Catherine Racers in a top of the table clash in the final match of the preliminary round.
The Racers lost only one match on the way to the final. It also had one drawn match. Its only loss was to the Humming Birds. The Racers is the only team to have gotten as many as sixty baskets in any one match.
The Humming Birds is particularly strong in the scoring department but may be a little suspect on the defensive side while the Racers boast an all-round team.
The Humming Birds will be depending heavily on its captain Elaine Davis who has scored at just below the eighty percent shooting accuracy in her matches. They will also lean on Thristina Harwood who has gotten better as the league progressed.
The Racers on the other hand will look to ace shooter Sabrina Spence as well as former national player Anna-Kay Griffiths who has played well from the start of the league. Nordia Hanson, the team captain will also be in the mix to marshal her team against the Humming Birds.
The finals are expected to go to three matches in order to get an eventual winner because the two teams are well matched and are rearing to start playing. Based on their matches to date, their match-ups are also expected to be extremely competitive.
Both coaches, Chris Campbell (Humming Birds) and Christopher Smart (Racers) who spoke after the semi finals were upbeat while giving their team the edge to win the inaugural Berger Elite League. They both predicted high level netball featuring the best netball players in the island.
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