Zimbabwe’s Gems registered their third win at the Africa Netball Cup when they beat Zambia 57-51 in a close-contest yesterday at Bellville Velodrome, Cape Town, South Africa.<\/p>\n
The Gems are hoping for a top four finish at the show-piece and they picked two important points yesterday although Zambia gave them a good run for their money in game that could have gone either way.<\/p>\n
The match started on an even pattern with the first quarter ending 14-13 in favour of Zimbabwe before the Gems upped their game to take a 10-goal lead by half time.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, Zimbabwe’s goal shooter Joice Takaidza had to be stretched off the court mid-way through the second quarter after she landed awkwardly.<\/p>\n
Linda Nkorongo took over.<\/p>\n
Takaidza, however, returned in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
Although Zimbabwe emerged winners, they lacked consistency yesterday and allowed Zambia to erase the deficit.<\/p>\n
Zambia were trailing by seven goals going into the last quarter.<\/p>\n
But a good fighting spirit by the Gems saw them snatching their third victory, which was important if they are to, at least, finish on fourth position at the tournament.<\/p>\n
Zimbabwe had hoped for a top three finish but the game against Uganda, which they missed has had a negative effect on their campaign.<\/p>\n
The Gems will conclude the competition with a tie against Malawi, who are also a good side.<\/p>\n
Speaking to SuperSport after the game, Ropafadzo Mutsauki said she was pleased with the team’s performance and is looking forward to today’s game against Malawi.<\/p>\n
“First of all, I am very happy with the play of the team, they played as a team and they managed to utilise our chances, they played (a) slow game but they tried to make sure every chance they get they utilised.<\/p>\n
“It was a strategy we used . . . we take more time with the ball and we tried to avoid them to score two goals in advantage so it was a plan.<\/p>\n
“I think we will do better (in the) next game because Malawi is a good side. So, we will try by all means to play our usual game against them,” said Mutsauki.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Zimbabwe’s Gems registered their third win at the Africa Netball Cup when they beat Zambia 57-51 in a close-contest yesterday at Bellville Velodrome, Cape Town, South Africa. The Gems are hoping for a top four finish at the show-piece and they picked two important points yesterday although Zambia gave them a good run for their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":11261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9],"tags":[128,865,196],"class_list":{"0":"post-15079","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-miscellaneous","9":"tag-community","10":"tag-economy-in-zambia","11":"tag-mining"},"yoast_head":"\n