SANTIAGO, Cuba:
THE TITLE of Senior CARICOM Basketball champions is in reaching distance for Jamaica as the men's and women's teams secured their spots in the semi-finals of the tournament being held in Santiago, Cuba.
The women got past the US Virgin Islands 75-65 yesterday at the Alejandro Eugelles multi-purpose centre and meet Cuba in the semis this evening at 5:00.
The men's game follows at 7:00 p.m. and they play Barbados.
Syreeta Bromfield had another solid performance, posting 21 points, including six three-pointers, and collected seven rebounds to lead Jamaica to victory. Oberon Pitterson was also a major contributor, scoring 18 points and Althea Byfield added 11.
LESS THAN PLEASED
Despite the win, coach Rerita Esannason was less than pleased with the performance of the team as she believed they were not desirous enough. The team played in spurts and had numerous mental lapses and Esannason knows that her team cannot play Cuba the way they did the US Virgin Islands and win.
"I don't see the intensity and aggression that is needed for this competition. Some players are playing at a 10, some eight and some five we need everyone to be on the same level for 40 minutes. We've been playing in spurts and we can't have that," she said.
"It's an honour to play for your country, to be on the national team, and they need to honour that," she added.
The Cuban team is laced with towering women who are well-built, disciplined and are great shooters. To try and slow them, Jamaica will be playing a 2-3 zone defence as Esannason said they are too big and too good to play them man-to-man.
Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados will contest the other semi-finals.
Reaching the semi-finals means that the women qualify for the Central American Basketball Tournament in Guatemala from July 21-25.
The men must finish as one of the top three teams to qualify for their Central American tournament in the Dominican Republic, July 7-11.
Cuba's 88-77 romping of Bahamas on Monday night means that Jamaica and Cuba advanced with Barbados and US Virgin Islands to the semi-finals.
Coach Alf Remekie believes the team will get past Barbados and to the finals to avenge their first-game loss against Cuba, who are expected to beat US Virgin Islands today.
Barbados' coach Nigel Lloyd said it will be hard to contain Jamaica's big men.
"I like our defence. It will be hard to contain Jamaica because they have more versatility on offence but I'm confident in our defence," he said.
"Jamaica has a real big team and they're physical so we have to try and be quick enough but either way it's gonna be tough. They have two big guys (Brian Lewin and Kevin Young) that come off the bench and they're bangers," Lloyd noted.
