T&T opens against Cuba at Centrobasket

T&T women’s basketball team, led by point guard Melissa Guerero, will be in action today when FIBA Americas Centrobasket Championships jump off in Morovis, Puerto Rico. The local basketball team will open against 13-ranked team in the world, Cuba. Cuba was the only team to beat T&T last year in the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Championships held in Nassau, Bahamas. Cuba took the gold while T&T secured the silver. Guerero will have the support of guard Jowan Ortega and centre Miriam Seale.  The team will be coached again by Puerto Rican Ivan Flores and he will be assisted by former professional player Pietra Gay, who is also a former national captain.

 

 

In preparation for the event, the T&T team had been training in a live-in camp in New York, US, for the past month and a half. 

 The draws for both the men’s and women’s Centrobasket Championships were performed yesterday in the Basketball Federation of Puerto Rico (FBPUR) in the Olympic House in San Juan, under the leadership of Sports Director FIBA Americas, Anbal Garcia. T&T is in group A with Dominican Republic, Virgin Islands and Cuba. Group B includes Puerto Rico, Jamaica, El Salvador and Mexico.

 

 

The Puerto Ricans have been very successful over the past years, winning the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games, Centrobasket and the 2011 Pan-American Games. Puerto Rico opens against Jamaica today. The semifinals are scheduled for Friday and the finals the next day. The top four teams qualify for the 2013 FIBA-Americas Championship (World Qualifier). Yesterday, the National Basketball Federation of T&T (NBFTT) released a list of the players on team. They are, apart from Guerero, Ortega and Seale, Tricia Kennedy, Shakira Clarke, Chenel Harris, Rhea Codio, Tova lin Bartholomew, Gillian Goring, Crystal Goring, Ayanna Phillip, Tiffany Williams, Anika Nottingham and Candice Nelson. 

 

 

Team

Tricia Kennedy, Jowan Ortega, Shakira Clarke, Chenel Harris, Melissa Guerero, Rhea Codio, Tova lin Bartholomew, Miriam Seale, Gillian Goring, Crystal Goring, Ayanna Phillip, Tiffany Williams, Anika Nottingham, Candice Nelson