Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter
Left: Members of Jamaica's women's basketball team and coach Rerita Anderson (second left) lift the trophy for winning the female section at the Caribbean Amateur Basketball Association Championships, at the National Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday night. Unbeaten, Jamaica beat The Bahamas 90-46 in their final game on Saturday to end the 4-for-4 at the regional championships. Right: Usie Richards (second left), president of the Caribbean Amateur Basketball Association (CABA), shakes hands with Jamaica's captain Richard Andrews as he hands over the championship trophy, while other members of the host team celebrate their victory in the final over United States Virgin Islands at the National Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday night. Jamaica won 76-59. - ANTHONY MINOTT/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
JAMAICA'S MALE and female teams cruised to regional supremacy following extensive victories over the United States Virgin Islands and Bahamas on the final day of the Caribbean Basketball Champion-ships on Saturday night at the National Indoor Sports Centre.
The Bahamas proved no match for the Jamaican women, who justified their status as favourites, when they easily dispatched them 90-46 to win the female championship for the very first time.
In truth, the team never faced any serious challenge.
They had a comfortable lead by half-time at 38-26 and with 5:52 left to go in the final quarter they had totally drowned any far-fetched chance of a Bahamas comeback, leading 72-39.
For an ecstatic coach of the women's team, Rerita Essannason, the victory could not have come at a better time.
"I'm overwhelmed. We've been here so many times, we have been close so many times and we've never won," she said.
"We couldn't have done it at a better time at home, it's a really good feeling," she added.
Syreeta Bromfield top scored for the Jamaicans with 22 points, while Sharon Wiles and Simone Edwards chipped in with 15 points each.
The Jamaicans won all four of their games and finished with eight points. In second place was the US Virgin Islands, who finished with seven while the Barbados finished third with six points. All three teams will now move on to the 2006 Centrobasket Tournament in Panama City.
SWEET REVENGE
Revenge was sweet for Jamaica men's team as in front of hundreds of jubilant spectators, they managed to shake off the effects of a 78-75 heart-breaking loss to the US Virgin Islands on Wednesday, to trounce them 76-59 in Saturday's final. Stung by the effects of their first defeat they never gave a confident USVI team any real chance.
Omar Bartlett, who top scored with 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, was relentless in the early going and got the team off to a solid start by pounding the ball on the inside for easy baskets. Point guard Chazz Carr, who finished with 17 points, picked up right where he left off in Friday's semi-finals against Cuba as he scorched the Virgin Islands with searing shooting from mid-range and behind the arch.
After a 22-11 first quarter Jamaica's stifling defence ensured that they extended their lead and with three minutes left to go in the third quarter it was no longer a contest and they enjoyed their biggest lead at 51-26.
The Jamaicans continued to shoot the ball well in the final quarter. Timely shooting by Garfield Johns who finished with 12 points and Carr made sure that the Virgin Islands - who went on a run at the start of the first quarter, much to the dismay of the anxious spectators clad in their black green and gold - never really made any significant in-roads.
The Jamaicans made history when they beat Cuba for the first time in a tough semi-final match-up on Friday and ended Saturday's game with impressive 53 percent shooting from behind the arch and from the field.
"This is a relatively new team and I think that we get better everytime we step on the floor," said men's coach Julian Dunkley. "Today we took our first big step towards being dominant in basketball and we look forward to many more in the future," he added.
In the day's third and fourth place play-off Cuba got by the Bahamas 76-65. Jamaica and the US Virgin Islands along with Cuba have now booked their places for the 2006 Centrobasket tournament in Panama City.
