Home|Sports|The Bahamas loses to Cuba and the DRSports
Sheldon LongleySend an emailJuly 15, 2022 295 2 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email
Team Bahamas suffered its second straight lopsided loss to start the 2022 FIBA Americas Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Women’s Championship, losing to the Dominican Republic (DR), 73-50, at Ciudad Deportiva Coliseum in Havana, Cuba, yesterday.
On Wednesday, The Bahamas fell 76-44 to the host country.
The Bahamas trailed by double digits early and never recovered against Cuba and led for just the opening minute of the game against the DR. Still, The Bahamas has a realistic shot of advancing to the FIBA Americas Women’s Centrobasket Championship in November, as the top three teams from the CBC tournament qualify, and only four teams are entered.
The Bahamas will play the only other team in the field, Jamaica, at 3:30 p.m. today as Guyana pulled out. The semifinals will be played on Saturday, and the championship and third-place game are set for Sunday.
In the game against the DR, The Bahamas scored first, but after the DR took a 3-2 lead on a three-point shot in the second minute of the game, they never looked back. They went on to lead 16-11 after the first quarter and 36-21 at the half. The DR really blew the game open in the third quarter, outscoring The Bahamas 22-8 in that frame and taking a 58-29 lead heading into the fourth and final period. The DR led by as many as 31 points in the fourth, coasting to the easy win.
Point guard Valerie Nesbitt paced The Bahamas with a game-high 20 points on 9-for-18 shooting. She added seven assists, six rebounds and six steals but also had a game-high seven turnovers. Denika Lightbourne, just 17, was the only other player in double figures for The Bahamas, scoring 14 points on 5-for-15 shooting from the field.
Genesis Evangelista led a balanced scoring attack by the DR with 11 points and added six assists and four rebounds. Sugeiry Monsac had 10, Cesarina Capellan scored nine and Yenifer Jimenez dropped in eight.
The DR shot 44.4 percent from the field (28-for-63), compared to just 31.8 percent for The Bahamas (21-for-66). Also, the DR more than doubled up The Bahamas in the assists category, 21-10, and outrebounded The Bahamas, 51-42.
Against Cuba, Lightbourne led The Bahamas with 17 points on 5-for-12 shooting from the field. Nesbitt was the only other player in double figures for them, contributing 13 points on 4-for-10 shooting. Nahomis Vargas led Cuba with 15 points. Isabela Jourdain added 14 points and 10 rebounds and Yamara Amargo contributed 11 points and six rebounds.
The Bahamas shot just 24.5 percent from the field in that game, making 13 of 53 shots. Cuba shot 37.2 percent from the field, sinking 29 of 78 shots. They had 25 more shot attempts than The Bahamas.
As mentioned, The Bahamas plays Jamaica at 3:30 p.m. today.
Team Bahamas is coached by Donillo ‘Donny’ Culmer and he is assisted by Devon Johnson and Diasti Delancey. The five-day tournament is sanctioned by FIBA (International Basketball Federation) and will wrap up on Sunday.
The top three teams will qualify for the FIBA Americas Women’s Centrobasket Championship in November – a tournament that produced a sixth place finish for The Bahamas in 2018.