- ANTHONY MINOTT/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
Jamaica's Simone Edwards (right) controls the ball with US Virgin Islands defender Shaquana Wilkins behind her in Caribbean Basketball Championships action at the National Indoor Sports Centre on Tuesday. Jamaica won the encounter 102-55 and could win the championship today with a victory over The Bahamas in the final.
Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter
JAMAICA WILL hope to realise their dream of double gold when both the male and female teams contest the finals of the Caribbean Basketball Championships tonight at the National Indoor Sports Centre.
In last night's semi-finals, a plucky performance by the men's team saw them finally upstaging long time rivals Cuba 93-84 for their first-ever basketball win over their Caribbean neighbours.
Chazz Carr top scored for the Jamaican's with 25 points, who after blowing a 14-point lead early in the first quarter, found themselves tied with Cuba 42-42 at 8:52 minutes into the third quarter.
Cuba enjoyed a brief lead at 45-42 but hot shooting from behind the arch by Kerr and Garfield Johns, who finished with 15 points and 50 per cent team average from behind the arch overall kept the Cubans at bay and gave Jamaica enough of a cushion to see out the victory in the final quarter.
Tonight they will play the winner of the US Virgin Islands and The Bahamas semi-final which got under way at press time. The impressive U.S. Virgin Islands had earlier beaten Jamaica in the tournament and were expected to advance.
Having already won three of the four games to be played in the round-robin format of the women's competition, Jamaica are now at the top of the table with six points following a comfortable 93-55 win over Antigua yesterday.
However, Barbados are right within striking distance and after three games have five points, with a fixture in hand tonight against the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The U.S. Virgin Islands, like Barbados, are, in with a chance to lift the trophy. A 65-63 victory over The Bahamas in overtime yesterday sees them with two wins and one loss, putting them on five points, the same as their opponents tonight.
Despite performances ranging from red-hot to just lukewarm by the Jamaican team, their coach Rerita Essannason remains confident ahead of today's final fixture.
"We will take today's game like any other game. We have to come out and play strong, when it's a fastbreak we have to play the fastbreak, if it's a half-court game we have to play a half-court game," she said. "But any way you look at it, it is going to be a competitive game today because The Bahamas always come out to play," she added.
The Bahamas had one win under their belt against Antigua and Barbuda but have two losses which leaves them on just three points.
Following a disappointing 78-75 loss to the U.S. Virgin Islands on Wednesday, Jamaica's men's team, led by 16 points from Omar Bartlett, turned back Barbados 70-66 to rescue their chances of a shot at the title. Andrew Alleyne shot a game-high 23 points for a Barbados team who were never outclassed and in fact on many occasions had the home fans squirming around nervously in their seats.
The win saw Jamaica place second in Group B behind an impressive U.S. Virgin Islands team and that actually set them up for last night's clash against the neighbouring Cubans - the 2004 champions - which they were able to win easier than anticipated.
