Diamonds hand Tigresses worst defeat
Defending champions Diamonds on Sunday handed Tigresses their worst defeat in history following a 65-23 thrashing in the Rainbow Paints Blantyre and Districts Netball League (BDNL) at Blantyre Youth Centre (BYC).
The result has helped Diamonds cement their stand at the summit of the 10-team log-table with six points from three straight wins while Tigresses are stuck at the bottom of the table with no point from two consecutive losses, one of which came from docked points following their failure to turn up for a recent fixture against Prison Sisters.
Before the latest clash between the giant rivals, Tigress had not lost by such a wide margin and the latest result was enough to send shivers of disbelief and discontent down the spines of Tiga as the team is fondly called.
However, with their star-shooter Sindi Simtowe-Msowoya missing from their line-up due to suspension and in the absence of goalkeeper Laureen Ngwira, whose transfer to English top-flight league outfit Team Northumbria remains an unsolved puzzle, Tigresses appeared a depleted squad as the duo’s respective replacements Awema Chikaonda and Beauty Basiyawo could hardly fit into their shoes against tougher opposition.
Their notable key players such as goal-attacker Ellen Chiboko, wing-attacker Beatrice Mpinganjira and Licy Fiwa could orchestrate attacks on Diamonds defence but some weak links frequently foiled their final flourish, giving the defending champions much freedom to dominate play and score at will through a deadly shooting duo of Alinafe Kamwala and Jessie Mazengera-Sanudi.
With Diamonds having Malawi Queens’ experienced defenders Carol Mtukule-Ngwira and Towera Vinkhumbo-Nyirenda as goal-defender and goalkeeper, in that order, it looked a tall order for the youthful Tigresses. Diamonds led 17-4 in the first quarter before increasing the tally to 33-10 and 42-16 in the subsequent segments.
“We trained for only two days and the absence of Sindi had a negative impact on our performance,” said Tigresses coach Peace Chawinga-Kalua after the match. “We created a lot of chances, but we lacked the killer punch. We will do our best to do well in our next games.”
On the other hand, Diamonds coach Griffin ‘Zagalo’ Saenda was over the moon with the result, describing it as a big signal to their intention to reclaim the ultimate glory with unbeaten run at the end of the season.
In the other games, Serenity Stars beat Shizaella Queens 51-36 to consolidate their second place on inferior basket difference as they are tied on six points with Diamonds, whereas Thunder Queens trounced Gerald Tasaukadala Sisters 85-14 to remain fourth on the ladder with four points from three games.
Prison Sisters thumped Polytechnic Sisters 57-18 to maintain third place with the same points and number of games while eighth-placed Chilomoni Sisters beat Machinjiri Sisters 51-31 to recover from their loss in their opener. n
