The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas women’s national basketball team suffered a 56-41 loss to the unbeaten Dominican Republic in the semifinal of the FIBA Caribbean Women’s Cup Championships on Wednesday night at the Anthony Nesty Sporthal in Paramaribo, Suriname.

Point guard Valerie Nesbitt, the team’s leading scorer in the tournament, led the attack with 18 points in 37 minutes and 13 seconds.

She also had three rebounds and three steals with an assist. Shalonda Neely, a forward, was the only other player in double figures with 12 points. In 27:16 minutes she added 17 rebounds with two assists.

Britenique Harrison, whom head coach Wayde Watson was hoping to rely on in the middle, was the next best scorer with four points and seven rebounds. Pamela Bethel had three points and both Arlia Greene and Ashley Moss chipped in with two.

The Dominican Republic had just two players in double figures as Yohanna Morton and Andreina Paniagua scored 12 apiece.

Team Bahamas advanced out of Group A with a 1-1 win-loss record as the number two team behind Cuba at 2-0. The Dominican Republic won Group B with a 3-0 record ahead of Barbados at 2-1. While the Dominican Republic won over the Bahamas, Cuba routed Barbados 106-41.

Qualifier

That will set up the final today when the Dominican Republic and Cuba will square off, while the Bahamas will take on Barbados for third place. The tournament is serving as a qualifier for the Centro Basket, scheduled for August 20-24 in Puerto Rico.

Team officials were unavailable for comments up to presstime.

But like all of their previous game, Team Bahamas got off to a slow start. It wasn’t until six minutes and 44 seconds into the first quarter that Britenique Harrison scored a jumper to cut Team Bahamas deficit to 4-2 and at 4:24, Brea Forbes got a steal and a pass to Shalonda Neely for a jumper to tie the score at 4-4.

Team Bahamas got its first lead, 7-6, at 1:29 on Pamela Bethel’s three-pointer after Tracy Lewis came up with the steal and Valerie Nesbitt made the pass.

The Dominican Republic, however, went on a 9-0 spurt to snatch a 15-7 margin at the end of the period.

To start the second quarter, Team Bahamas went on a 7-3 run for a 18-14 deficit, highlighted by a three-pointer and a jumper from Nesbitt. But once again, the Dominican Republic pulled away as they surged to a 26-15 lead at the half.

As they came out of the locker room, the Dominican Republic started to turn up the heat, opening a comfortable 39-23 advantage in the first five minutes. The Bahamas didn’t score again until the 3:03 mark on a jumper from Neely for a 43-15 deficit, but the Dominican Republic held on for a 44-25 lead at the end of the period.

Both teams hit a dry spell until the Dominian Republic broke the ice on a jumper at 7:44 for a 46-25 lead. Team Bahamas didn’t score until Nesbitt converted the second of her two free throws for a 46-26 deficit at 6:33. At 5:48, Neely canned the first of her two free throws to trim the lead to 46-27.

At 4:39, Newbitt scored on a jumper to bring Team Bahamas within 17, 46-29. Less than 30 seconds later, Team Bahamas got a free throw from Nesbitt for a 46-30 deficit. At 4:05, coach Watson was assessed a technical foul and the Dominican Republic took advantage to extend their lead.

Team Bahamas got a jumper from Arlia Greene and a free throw each from Neely and Nesbitt on a run of their own to cut the deficit to 49-34 with 3:01. Nesbitt scored again on a jumper and added two more free throws with 1:59 left for a 52-37 deficit. And at 1:29, Neely scored on a jumper for a 54-39 margin.

Neely drew Team Bahamas closer at 54-41 with 33 seconds left on a jumper, but the Dominican Republic closed out the game on a pair of charity shots to seal the 56-41 victory.