By VINO
Darier Malone of the BVI beats her marker to advance to the basket during semi finals of the CBC Championship. Photo: Charlie E. Jackson/VINO
For a team playing in its first-ever international competition, the British Virgin Islands’ Women’s team looked like a seasoned club after coming back from a double-digit second-half deficit and nearly pulling off a stunning comeback win over St Vincent and the Grenadines when the CBC Women’s Championship continued on Thursday June 11, 2015.
The stirring, crowd pleasing comeback, was cut short, however, as St Vincent and the Grenadines just made more plays in the final two minutes and came away with a thrilling 71-67 win at the Multi-Purpose Sports Complex in Road Town.
“The two point guards did a good job for them and it was their night, that’s Basketball,” commented BVI Coach, Brian “Bash” Brewley. “Free Throws can win games and that’s something we will have to work on going forward, even in the NBA they sometimes miss and we had chances to win the game.“
BVI held a lead after the first period, 18-17, but SVG used a 16-2 run to take a 35-27 lead at the half.
SVG swelled the lead to 12 in the third quarter at 48-36 and looked to be cruising, until Tiffany Jennings and Shauliqua Fahie hit back-to-back three-pointers to cut the lead to 50-47 after three.
BVI finally tied the game at 56 with a Tamara Philip layup with 5:13 to play in the fourth. The two teams traded the lead until Philip hit a pair of free throws to put BVI up 65-61 with 2:35 to play. But Sheldeen Joseph tied the game with two free throws of her own at the 1:39 mark, and Lorna Caesar gave SVG the lead for good with another pair from the stripe with 1:04 to play.
Vasha Adams scored 22 points and hauled in 14 rebounds for SVG, while Joseph added 21 and grabbed 13 boards. Tamara Philip had a game high 27 and had 29 rebounds for BVI. Jennings added 18.
Bahamas turns around for narrow win over Barbados
The semi-finals were also contested during play on Thursday, with Barbados suffering an astonishing last quarter loss to the Bahamas.
The undefeated Bahamas had placed first in group A and took on the second place finisher Barbados in group B. Bahamas won 57-53. Philicia Kelly led the way for Bahamas with 10 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, accompanied by Sha-Londa Neely with 13 points and 15 boards.
Jamila Studer, Toni Atherley and Dale-Marie Cumberbatch each had 12 points for Barbados who took an early lead and went into the locker rooms at halftime leading 27-18.
Although Barbados’ starting point guard Ashlee Daniels fouled out of the game, they were able to hold the lead. It was a back and forth affair in the last three minutes of play in the final quarter as Bahamas, in a collective team effort, made their free throws and plays down the stretch, edging out Barbados in the final minute for the victory.
Jamaica overcome USVI
Defending Champions Jamaica also reached the final with a win against the US Virgin Islands (USVI).
Despite a spirited effort by the US Virgin Islands that saw them cut a 20-point lead down to 6 in the 4th quarter, Jamaica held on to win 61-52.
Jamaica started the game on a 7-0 run and led 16-4 after the 1st quarter. The Virgin Islands got as close as 6 with 7:06 remaining before back to back threes by Tarita Gordon kept the Jamaicans ahead for good.
The ‘Reggae Girls’ had strong performances by Yanique Gordon, who had 19 points and Tarita Gordon, who had 18 points, as well as Jennifer George who tallied 10 points and 14 rebounds.
