Namibia’s Under-17 Women’s Netball Team beat Botswana 37-32 in their opening game of the 2022 African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 games at the Griffin Saenda Indoor Netball complex on Sunday.

Namibia got off the blocks quickly scoring five baskets without reply in the first 10 minutes of the match before Botswana regrouped.

The damage was already done as the Namibians took a 12-03 first-quarter lead.

A quick pep talk from the Batswana coach saw them outscore Namibia by 10 to seven baskets to see the scoreline 20-13 at halftime.

The second half saw Namibia replicate their first-quarter performance stretching their lead to 29-20 in the third quarter, before finishing off the match 37-32 in the final quarter to boost their chances of winning the competition.

Namibia coach Jatjinda ‘Tutzi’ Tjihero was satisfied with the results saying starting a tournament with a win is a morale booster.

“Our overall strategy was to start the tournament with a win to boost our confidence. Beating Botswana by five points is amazing. We started fast and caught them off-guard,” she said, noting that there are, however, a lot of things to work on as a team.

The team, she said is looking forward to playing South Africa on Monday at the same venue, which could be a tougher match.

Tjihero said after watching South Africa against Malawi before their clash with Botswana she is confident Namibia can come out with a positive result even though the South Africans had played well against hosts Malawi.

“It is a different ball game tomorrow. We are ready. We did not make many substitutions during the match, even though the girls were making a lot of mistakes. That means some of our players will be fresh,” she explained.

She added that the South Africans have taller players and they just need to play their normal game and be aggressive against their opponents during the match.

Namibia will be aiming to win their match against South Africa before facing Malawi on Tuesday at the same venue.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency