Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter
Jamaica captain Oberon Pitterson (second right) and other members of the team celebrating with the trophy after winning the Caribbean Basketball Champs. Thge team placed third to clai a qualifying spot at the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship for women. - PHOTO BY ANTHONY MINOTT
A HAPPY Jamaica women's basketball contingent returned to the island on Saturday after securing themselves the final available spot for the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship for women.
Having lost in the competition's semi-final stage to defending champions Cuba, the girls found themselves in a tough spot and they had to beat Puerto Rico to keep their hopes of advancing to the final round of Olympic qualification alive.
The position they found themselves in was even more difficult as they had lost to the Puerto Rican team 78-63 just two day's earlier in the preliminary round.
EXTRAORDINARY FEELING
The Puerto Ricans topped Group B but lost to out to Mexico in their semi-final, which set up the do-or-die clash with Jamaica.
This time, however, the Caribbean champions would not be denied and they recovered from a slow 22-12 first quarter deficit to eventually get better of the Puerto Ricans 71-67.
"It was one of those extraordinary feelings. We knew we were at fault when we lost the first game and we played catch-up in the second game, but we really gutted out and it was an excellent all-round team effort," said team captain Oberon Pitterson who had an exceptional tournament, averaging 16 points.
"We know that this is now the next level and we will be looking to be even stronger for next year's tournament.
"A big part of our success though is the amount of the time that we have been able to spend together, that has never happened before," she said.
"It was also really nice to be able to keep our end of the bargain in terms of sponsors' support. We have a lot of talent and I would love to see the rest of corporate Jamaica lend their support," she added.
The result for the team was, in truth, a very encouraging one as just days before the competition inadequate funding had cast ominous shadows on their participation in the event for the second straight occasion.
Jamaica are now the only English-speaking Caribbean country to have ever qualified for this stage of the final tournament.
In addition to the Central American and Caribbean CAC Games, the team also qualified for the PAN American Games.
Jamaica joined Cuba, who successfully defended their title against runners-up Mexico in the finals, as the three teams that have advanced to next year's FIBA Americas Championships.
MEN'S TEAM
Meanwhile the men's team, who were like the women were recently crowned Caribbean champions, will be looking to emulate the females' success when they leave for Panama today to take part in the Centrobasket Tournament for men. The Jamaican's will open their campaign against Mexico at
4:30 p.m. tomorrow.
