Sunshine Girls aim for improvements - Jamaica coach hopeful despite 72-41 loss in opening netball game against Australia

National senior netball head coach Sasher-Gaye Henry said there were encouraging signs for the Sunshine Girls, despite their heavy 72-41 defeat to host Australia in the opening match of their three-Test series at Adelaide Entertainment Centre in Adelaide, Australia on Thursday.

Jamaica were massively outshot by the Australians, 79-51.

Team captain and goal attack, the skilful and versatile Shanice Beckford led the Sunshine Girls' shooting with 17 goals from 18 tries, while Simone Gordon (12/15) and Giselle Allison (12/18) wee the other scorers.

Australia's goals were scored by Cara Coenen (25/27), Sophie Dwyer (9/11), Kiera Austin (21/23), and Sophie Garbin (17/18).

Henry said the focus remains on growth as the Jamaicans prepare for the second Test, noting that lessons learnt from Game 1 could lead to a stronger showing in the remaining games.

"We are very hopeful going into Game 2, because for us it is about building, and so we definitely want to make a big impact on our performance in our next game based on our efforts in Game 1," Henry said.

"We know there are some areas that we really want to fix and we are hoping that we will get it right for Game 2."

Game 2 will be played in Perth on Sunday, before the final Test in Melbourne next Wednesday.

The Sunshine Girls trailed 16-10 at the end of the first quarter, 34-22 at half-time, and 54-30 at the end of a woeful third quarter in which they were outshot 20-8, before being outscored 18-11 in the final period as the world number one Australians surged to a comfortable victory.

The Jamaica team is without several key players, including captain and star goal shooter Jhaniele Fowler, Shamera Sterling and Kadie-Ann Dehaney. The trio also missed the Sunshine Girls' last series against England in December, which ended in a 2-0 defeat.

Despite the lopsided scoreline, Henry stated that the Sunshine Girls showed improvement when compared to the England series.

"I think that we have definitely improved in certain areas of our game against Australia, compared to our last series in December against England," she said.

"We didn't start out well against the Australians ... we started out a bit slow and we made some poor errors; not Australia intercepting, but we giving away the ball easily."

Henry pointed out that while some performance targets were not met, there were flashes of quality play that the team can build on.

"We set some targets, but we didn't achieve some of them in terms of the scoreline, but we did see some nice, sharp passage of play," she said. "But again, consistency to limit the turnovers played a big part for us."

Henry pointed to ball control and decision-making as key areas for improvement ahead of the next match.

"So we definitely know that we have to work on our sharpness and our control, especially with our passes, and not trying to force the ball very long, but working hard in trying to get the ball in the circle to shoot it," Henry said. "That is what we really have to focus on come Game 2."

She added: "I must give credit to some of our younger players, like Roxonna McLean playing in the defending circle with Latanya Wilson for the first time, it was just super impressive," Henry said. "She is one of the under 21s that is just coming into the squad for the first time."