The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

The youngest division of the 28th Annual Father Marcian Peters Basketball tournament was featured on day four of the event at Kendal Isaacs Gym on Monday.

PRIMARY GIRLS

Temple Christian Suns - 27

Freedom Baptist - 18

The defending champions made a bold statement in their tournament debut with a dominant performance.

Tamia Arthur was unstoppable and outscored the entire Freedom Baptist team with 20 points. Destiny Forbes chipped in with six.

Briana LaFrance led Freedom Baptist with 13 points while Kevonne McCaulsky added five.

The Suns opened the game on a 7-0 run before McCaulsky’s jumper ended the run.

They led 7-2 after the opening quarter and took their first double digit lead when Arthur put them ahead 13-2 on a fastbreak layup.

The Suns led 17-7 at the half.

With the TC reserves in the game in the third quarter, Freedom Baptist made a run to close within five, 17-12.

Arthur entered the game on the next possession and immediately scored to stop the run.

Suns head coach Keno Demeritte said his team is well on their way to an eighth consecutive title once they maintain focus.

“They opened strong but I still feel like we need to cut back on our mental errors to keep things going. Our offense was going well to start, but defensively we had a lapse there and they got back into it,” he said.

”What the girls tend to do is play to the level of their competition and that’s what we need to get out of. We have to maintain focus within the game, no matter the score and I expect us to repeat.”

The Suns are coming of their third annual Gold Trading Primary Boys and Girls Basketball Tournament championship last month.

Claridge Primary - 12

Carlton Francis Rockets - 6

Francisca Merger scored a game high 10 points to lead Claridge Primary in a game one win yesterday.

Dasha Riley was the only other player on the team to reach the scoreboard.

After both teams traded a single basket in the first, Claridge got a late basket from Merger and one of two free throws from Riley for a 6-3 lead at the half.

After the Rockets opened the third with a basket, Claridge ended the quarter on a 4-0 run to seal the win.

Rockets head coach Sherman Smith said following a loss in last month’s TC tournament, his team is not as strong this time around, but he likes the chances of his boys.

“My girls are a bunch of new girls. The girls who played with us in the past have all gone on to grade seven. I have a lot of girls from grades four and five. There are only two grade six girls,” Smith said.

“But my boys are looking good. We are looking forward to winning the title this year. We have about three boys that are really good. They should help us to win it this year.”

His boys team recently came off a title win in the New Providence Primary Schools Sports Association’s basketball tournament with a perfect appearance in seven games played.

Carlton E Francis girls were unsuccessful in defending their title as they lost to EP Roberts in the playoffs.

Smith noted that he has never won the Father Marcian title in the seven years he has been working with Carlton E Francis boys and the four years with the girls.

“We came second twice with the girls and the boys were third last year. So we hope that we can do it this year.”

The Father Marcian tournament brings together both public and private schools in New Providence in competition against the

visiting schools from throughout the Family Islands. The tournament is also geared towards the junior boys and girls, intermediate boys and senior girls divisions.