2015 Mission Foods Nations Cup

Our girls took out silver after losing to Northern Ireland 52-41 to finish second in the tournament.

From the beginning, 12th world ranked Northern Ireland paired their top scorers Jenna and Kyla Bowman who proved effective as they raced to take the first quarter 16-4.

Pepes, 16th world ranked, piled on the pressure in the second quarter as goal shooter Tiata Baldwin paired up with captain Lua Rikis to tip the second quarter in PNG’s favour, nicking it 15-14.

They lost to a strong team,  Northern Ireland,  47-35 in Singapore late yesterday.

Kicking the match off to a great start, Pepes demonstrated a mix of swift passes and astounding team play in split seconds, propelling their score to a huge lead of 11-4 by the end of the first quarter.

Solid team play between Northern Ireland’s goal shooter Jenna Bowman and goal attack Sarah Montgomery helped escalate their count to 19-9 by the end of the second quarter.

Both teams are so far undefeated in the tournament.

Northern Ireland who are ranked 12^th in the world have done it relatively easy with wins over Botswana, Singapore Invitational and Chinese Taipei.

The 16^th placed Pepes on the other hand have also registered wins over the same teams but by closer margins.

The match will get underway at 5pm (7pm PNG time) at the OCBC Arena.

PNG Netball President, Julienne Leka Maliaki said she is confident the Pepes can cause an upset.