The Tribune

By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

THE Elite Ballers deserve all of their flowers after finishing off the Foxxy Defenders 78-60 in what was a battle of the generations for the New Providence Women’s Basketball Association (NPWBA) championship hardware.

Despite being one of the youngest and newest teams in the league, the Elite Ballers were unphased by the odds stacked against them and closed out the best-of-five championship series 3-1 at the DW Davis Gymnasium on Tuesday night.

Shakira Farrington, assistant coach of the Elite Ballers, said it felt good to get the title victory in just their first year competing in the night league.

“It feels good. It was our first time here in the league and we did it. Last game we came out a little rough so in this game we knew we had to play good defensively. Our bigs had to come in and step up and we knew once we ran our offence we would win today,” Farrington said.

The make-up of the Elite Ballers’ roster consists of mostly high school players with the exception of Valerie Nesbitt who has played at the national, collegiate and pro level.

“Most of them are high school players. We only have Val, who played overseas basketball and college basketball with Coach Yo, but most of them are tenth graders, eleventh and twelfth graders. We are trying to prepare them for college and we travel a lot to try and get the games in. This was a good thing for them to come here and play in the night league to get them prepared for college”, she said.

Speaking of Nesbitt, she was a prolific force to be reckoned with on the offensive end of the basketball court. Her performance in the series earned her the Most Valuable Player (MVP) honours and the Top Point Scorer distinction for the 2024 NPWBA Finals.

Nesbitt along with Shenell Stewart, who attends CR Walker, shouldered the load for the Elite Ballers on Tuesday night. The MVP was a “Jill of all trades” for the newly-crowned champions. She stuffed the stat sheet with 16 points, 14 helpers and 11 rebounds.

“It feels great to come out here and compete back at home. It feels amazing to win MVP and know that I impacted the game the whole tournament,” she said.

She noted that the process was not always easy playing with the younger team at first but it was great to share some of her knowledge and experience with them.

“It was very challenging at first but when they got accustomed to me and how I am, the goal was to come and try to help them and give them as much knowledge as I know and try to give back to the game and people younger than me,” Nesbitt said.

Meanwhile, Stewart was in cruise control against the Foxxy Defenders. She powered her way to a game-high 30 points, 5 boards and two assists. She shot 12-for-24 on the night.

“It feels great because we came out here to develop our skills playing against adults so it truly feels amazing to win. I came out here with a goal to basically play my best because I didn’t play well last game. I tried to just keep my head up and encourage my teammates,” Stewart said.

Game Recap

Both teams brought their A-game to start the opening quarter of the elimination game. After a tightly-contested first quarter, it would be the Foxxy Defenders leading 19-18.

Suddenly, the momentum shifted in favour of the Elite Ballers with Nesbitt at the helm. She scored 10 of her 16 points in just the second quarter.

The Elite Ballers then reeled off a 15-6 scoring run which was initiated by a made layup and successful three-pointer made by the MVP.

While the Elite Ballers were firing on all cylinders, the Foxxy Defenders hit an offensive dry spell leaving them scoreless for nearly 2:00 during their opponents offensive run.

The champions were able to pull ahead by double digits (35-25) with 3:16 remaining before the halftime break. They outscored the Foxxy Defenders 24-13 and were in charge 42-32 at the halftime break.

Chrishanda Rahming got a late start for the Foxxy Defenders, checking into the game in the second half, but she made all the difference in the third quarter.

Rahming continuously bullied her way to the charity stripe to exploit the Elite Ballers’ foul trouble. She single-handedly helped to cut the lead down to single digits late in the third quarter with a layup that shifted the score to 53-44.

Although the Foxxy Defenders continued to hang around on the scoreboard, Stewart connected on a big three-pointer to push the lead back to double digits (58-46) at the 1:21 mark of the third quarter and the rest was history.

Both teams were evenly matched on the boards with 57 apiece but the difference maker was the fastbreak and points from turnovers.

The Elite Ballers utilised their speed to their advantage earning 30 points from fastbreak opportunities compared to the 6 scored by the Foxxy Defenders.

Additionally, they managed to score 21 points from turnovers while the Foxxy Defenders only scored 10.

Roberta Quant finished the game with 15 points and 11 rebounds and Rahming poured in 13 points and 6 rebounds for the Foxxy Defenders in the loss.

The NPWBA night league returned after a four-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Individual Awards

Most rebounds - Shamarajah Cummings

Defensive player- Shenell Stewart