Shooters outgun Nerine

By Aaron Scoones

Nerine centre Lyndsey Bougourd attempts to block a St Clement pass yesterday at the Grammar School. (Picture by Adrian Miller, 0571119)

DEAD-EYE shooting from St Clement A proved to be the undoing of Nerine Trust A as they lost yesterday’s ‘Upton’ 49-38 at the Grammar School.

The Jersey champions’ goal-shooter and captain Zoe Hotton and goal-attack Emma Carre were in devastating form around Nerine’s post.

‘It was a good game, despite the scoreline,’ said Nerine’s coach Jamie Roussel. ‘We played well, although the mistakes we did make their shooters punished every time. Their goal-shooter didn’t miss a single shot all game. When you’ve got shooters in that sort of form it’s always going to be difficult.’

With Hotton and Carre finding their range straight from the off, Nerine were always on the back foot.

But by the end of the first quarter they were keeping up with their opponents with the score 11 each.

However, as the game wore on, the Caesareans proceeded to stretch ahead.

At the half-time the score was 26-17 to the visitors.

Roussel tried to make something happen by bringing on Denise Bourgaize at goal-shooter for Lois Batiste, but the Sarnians continued to play catch up.

Going into the last quarter, St Clement were ahead by 10 points at 36-26 and never looked back.

‘It was a big performance and we worked hard,’ said Hotton.

‘We had consistency in our shooting and we battled for every ball. Everyone gave 100% and that’s all you can ask for.

‘They made us work and we were surprised how strong they were. They were a tough team.’

The win also wrapped a clean sweep for Jersey in the Uptons.

The Division Four trophy went to St Ouen D after they crushed Fairbairn Trust 51-108 while the Division Three game belonged to St Brelade B when they defeated P&J Conservatories 73-48.

And Accies A, following their 48-40 defeat of PWC, won the Division Two fixture.

The Guernsey side were pleased with their efforts, though.

‘It was very close and exciting,’ said PWC’s Lisa Bougourd.

‘We did better than we thought we were going to do. We thought we were going to get hammered.

‘We thoroughly enjoyed it.’