GABORONE, July 9 (Xinhua) -- Hosts Botswana continued their good run in the ongoing 2017 Netball World Youth Cup (NWYC) as they defeated Cook Islands 51-41 in their Pool C clash on Sunday afternoon.
This was their second win in as many matches following a victory over Malaysia on the opening day of the tournament on Saturday.
The islanders were expected to give the home side a run for their money with their quick interchange style of play and nearly did that as they took a five point lead at the beginning of the game.
Botswana soon found their feet and launched numerous attacks led by Goal Attacker (GA) Pearl Maribe who fed Goal Scorer (GS) Tjeludo David to usurp the lead by the end of the first quarter.
The match continued to be evenly balanced at the beginning of the second quarter with the teams matching each other in all departments and without any big point difference.
Botswana would however pool away towards half time as they converted most points while Cook Islands struggled on attack. They managed to go for halftime with a healthy 11 point lead.
The home side continued dominance in the third quarter despite Cook Islands doing everything to get back into the match.
Thousands of home fans cheered the team to victory in the final quarter when the opponents tried to close the point gap.
Botswana will now play Uganda in their third Pool match on Monday and a victory will see them move closer to the knockout stages of the tournament.
In other results from day two of the competition, Northern Ireland defeated Sri Lanka 56-54 in pool A while in Pool B South Africa beat Zimbabwe 56-42.
