Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter
PITTERSON
THE JAMAICA women's team suffered their first loss of the Centrobasket tournament when they went down 73-68 to Puerto Rico yesterday, ending a two-game winning streak in Mexico City.
Captain Oberon Pitterson had a solid game with 23 points, but that was not enough to overcome a Puerto Rican side which finished runners up to Cuba at the 2004 Caribbean championships.
"They weren't a better team than us, we started out kind of slow on both the offensive and defensive ends and we just didn't take care of the basketball," was the assessment of coach Rerita Essanasson
"We got back into the game after digging ourselves into a hole, but we just had too many turnovers down the stretch - they didn't beat us, we beat ourselves." she said
The Jamaicans tipped their campaign off in impressive fashion when they turned back Costa Rica 71-67 in Sunday's opening game, despite an impressive 31-point tally by Costa Rica's Natalia Galvez. They then went on to dismiss the US Virgin Islands in Monday's second game.
The Virgin Islands, who they triumphed over easily in the Caribbean basketball championships a little over a week ago, once again proved to be no significant threat and were easily swept aside 62-45.
On that occasion, Pitterson also led by example, netting 17 points while the Virgin Islands' top player, Shaquana Wilkins, had 19 points in a losing effort.
TO FACE STERN CHALLENGE
The loss to Puerto Rico sees the Jamaicans finish second in Group B with five points, two behind Puerto Rico, but ahead of Costa Rica and the Virgin Islands.
They will, however, face a stern challenge as they await the winner of the Group A clash between top teams Cuba and Mexico in the tournament's semi-final round. Jamaica have never beaten Mexico or Cuba. The Cuban women, who won the Caribbean Championships in 2004, did not participate in this year's Caribbean tournament.
The game between Mexico and Cuba was under way at press time. Despite that result, the Jamaica women's team has already qualified for this year's Central American and Caribbean Games in Colombia as it is among the top four teams in the event.
