Singapore's netballers made it two wins in two in the Netball Nations Cup, as they beat Botswana 46-41 on Monday night.
In front of a vociferous home crowd at the OCBC Arena, Singapore stormed to a 15-10 lead in the first quarter, and held on for a morale-boosting win thanks to the sharp shooting of goal shooter Charmaine Soh and solid defence of goal keeper Premila Hirubalan.
It was also the second straight match where world No. 19 Singapore beat opponents ranked higher than them. Botswana are world No. 16, while Singapore's opening 47-42 victory came against world No. 17 Papua New Guinea.
Said Singapore coach Ruth Aitken: "It was a great game. I thought the intensity was up from yesterday, and there were some outstanding plays from both sides.
"Botswana kept coming at us, but in the end our perseverance and willingness to work hard for each other paid off. We played with a lot of control in the last quarter and that was really good to see."
The victory was the perfect present for Singapore's Ang Shi Qi, who celebrated her birthday with the team earlier in the day. Said Ang: "It's the best birthday present. Actually a birthday is just a normal day, but the crowd made it special and it was great to get on the court today."
