Thursday 7 November 2019 12:19, UK
England Roses were beaten 55-43 by Jamaica in the first match of the Sunshine Series on Thursday night in Kingston.
The Roses stayed hot on Jamaica's heels but the Sunshine Girls established a five-goal lead towards the end of the first quarter at 16-11.
Sharp shooting from the hosts saw them win a physical second quarter 19-10 and lead 34-21 at half-time.
Jamaica picked up where they left off and continued to show their dominance with Shantal Slater scoring three from three while a few missed opportunities from England saw Jamaica pounce and work the ball back to their end of the court to go into the final quarter leading 46-32.
The home team found an extra gear to accelerate with a final flurry of goals as it finished 55-43 at the National Indoor Sports Centre.
"There were some absolutely inexcusable mistakes," Roses head coach Tracey Neville said.
"Costly errors. Inexperience. A little bit of savviness in [Jamaica's] game-plan.
"We've got an inexperienced squad in Jamaica and we want to test them against one of the best teams in the world. They got a lot of learning out of that."
The Roses will have a chance to level the playing field on Sunday in the second match of the series, which will be followed by the final game on Tuesday.
