The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Basketball Federation will field its first team for a busy summer with the upcoming Centrobasket Under-17 Championships.

The U-17 Girls will be hosted at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Team Bahamas will be captained by Karolyn Baptiste and Michelle Butler.

The remainder of the roster includes Rhema Collins, Laverne Armbrister, Jade Brown, Antonicia Moultrie, Denika Lightbourne, Veronaye Charlton, Kendi Outten, Khyla Shakespeare, Erin Williams and Danae Malcolm.

Varel Clarke-Davis will serve as the head coach, assisted by Deven Johnson and Anton Francis.

The draw for the 2019 tournament was hosted in May at the Casa Olimpica in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The Bahamas’ U-17 Girls were placed in Group B with Puerto Rico, Guatemala and El Salvador.

Group A includes the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Barbados and Mexico. The top three teams in the tournament will qualify for the FIBA U-18 Americas Championship 2020.

At the 2017 tournament, the Bahamas finished sixth at their tournament in Aguada, Puerto Rico in 2017. They suffered a 75-50 loss to Guatemala for sixth place in their tournament finale. The Bahamas came out of Group B in third place with a 1-2 record, losing their opener 53-39 to Costa Rica and 99-35 to Puerto Rico in their third game.

In between those two losses, the Bahamas got some consolation with a 86-69 win over Suriname. The team played in the reclassification round, pulling off a 79-60 rout over the British Virgin Islands before the loss to Guatemala.

In the men’s tournament, scheduled July 24-28, the Bahamas was placed in Group A alongside the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and El Salvador. Group B includes Mexico, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.

At the 2017 U-17 men’s Centrobasket Championships, Team Bahamas ended Centrobasket the way it began, with a lopsided win over Guyana, but ultimately a disappointing seventh place finish. The Bahamas scored the 91-63 win to conclude their five-game stretch in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic.

Dominick Bridgewater led the team with 24.8 points, 8.4 rebounds, 4.2 steals and 3.6 assists per game. Raschard Greene averaged a double double with 10.2 points and a team leading 10.8 rebounds per game, Sammy Hunter averaged 14.6 points and 6.8 rebounds per game, Grevaughn Goodman also averaged 14.6 points per game and was the team’s leading three point shooter at 42 per cent.