Carolyn Johnson, Freelance Writer

St. Hugh's beat Bridgeport 28-8 in senior action of the ISSA/Digicel Urban Netball Schoolgirl Competition yesterday at St. Hugh's but earlier lost 16-17 in the junior competition.

With the advantage of having national defenders Africa Morris and Sasha-Gaye Lynch on the senior team playing goal defence and goal keep respectively, St. Hugh's made sure to keep the ball in their circle. But apart from St. Hugh's efficient play, Bridgeport's main problems were the disunity within the team and general indiscipline of the players. This led to their best defender, Novia Bendison, being taken out of the game by the coach in the third quarter.

"They played nothing." said Bridgeport's manager Marcia Wallen.

"They know that St. Hugh's defenders are very experienced and they are behind. You can't get the ball from behind from experienced defenders. They came in the game and did their own thing, totally different from what the coach said."

Meanwhile, a confident Phillip St. Marie, coach of St. Hugh's, said he had expected to win.

"The given plan was to target 40 goals. I always tell my team to win by the third quarter; the fourth quarter is just for goals. We already lost a match to Tarrant High by one. We need to win all matches to come through," he said.

The junior game was a close encounter and had the coaches on edge. They seemed to be more affected by the game than the players as they shouted and marched up and down the sidelines as the final minutes of the game were played out.

"The juniors played well in patches, fairly smooth in the first half but not so good in the second half." said Wallen. "There were too many turnovers."

St. Marie said his team did well despite losing.

"We lost the match by one but I think it was a good game." he noted.