Jamaica suffered their first loss of the Commonwealth Games when their Sunshine Girls went down to New Zealand 53-48 in their second preliminary game at the Hyra Arena here on Sunday.
Fresh from winning their opener against Trinidad and Tobago, the Jamaicans trailed New Zealand for the majority of the game in the highly anticipated encounter. Led by a standout performance from Grace Nweke, who scored 47 goals from 56 attempts, New Zealand held a slim 14-12 advantage after the first quarter and were up by one goal (26-25) at the half. They then extended that lead to 39-35 heading into the final period before holding on to win by five goals.
Romelda Aiken scored 34 goals from 38 attempts and Shanice Beckford scored 14 from 15 attempts for the Jamaicans.
The Sunshine Girls will now look to rebound in their Group B contest against Uganda, who have won both of their matches so far over Wales (59-50) and Trinidad and Tobago (80-36).