CHRIST CHURCH, Barbados – The Virgin Islands women's team, overcoming the disappointment of missing the medal round, came back Saturday morning to defeat Guyana 71-64 for fifth place in the Caricom Basketball Championships.
The Virgin Islands, playing in international competition for the first time since 1974, scored the first 16 points of the second half to take a 49-32 lead with 16 minutes remaining in the game and held on to win.
"It's good to leave on a positive note," said Virgin Islands captain Tajama Abraham, a former Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Year at George Washington University. "The coaches and the federation did a lot to get us here and we have something to build on."
The Virgin Islands finished the tournament 3-3. The team's biggest setback came Friday morning when the squad learned that they had missed the medal round after being informed the night before that they had secured the fourth semifinal spot.
The Virgin Islands finished the preliminary round tied for third place with Trinidad & Tobago and the Bahamas. Tournament officials informed the Virgin Islands coaches on Thursday night that the team won the tiebreaker for fourth place. The Virgin Islands squad found out Friday morning that a mistake had been made and Bahamas was moved up from fifth to fourth place.
"That was a big blow," Abraham said. "We ended up not having a chance to play for the championship."
Abraham, a free agent WNBA player, said her goal was to win the Caribbean title. "Winning for fifth wasn't a consolation for me," she said. "But this isn't about me. It's about the federation as a whole."
At the Caricom Championships, the Virgin Islands had a superior inside game with Abraham and Natasha Lettsome. The competitors showed more speed and stamina.
"Given this is our first time playing in 26 years, they showed respectfully," said John Abramson, Vice President of the V.I. Basketball Federation. "I believe they could have done better. With Felicia James or Tombi Bell, we would have won easily."
Bell plays guard for the University of Florida and James is a former All-Star guard at Grambling State University.
While the women came up short of winning the title, the Virgin Islands men's team steamrolled into the final with an 83-62 victory over Guyana.
Reserve guard Tyrone Alike scored 26 points and reserve forward Alphonso Niles added 16 points for the Virgin Islands, which clinched a spot in the Centro Basket Tournament with a berth in the Caricom final against host Barbados. The Virgin Islands men started to a 35-13 first-half lead but Guyana cut the deficit to 40-30 at intermission. Guyana came within 47-43 with 12:20 remaining but the Virgin Islands answered with a 16-0 run to take a 63-43 advantage.
The Virgin Islands men will play Barbados at 9 p.m. Saturday for the championship.
