Virgin Islands Women Lose In Opening Game of FIBA AmeriCup Against Colombia

  • Kyle Murphy
  • June 12, 2021
comments
0 Comments

USVI Women's Basketball Team played Columbia on Friday. By. FIBA

The Virgin Islands Women’s Basketball team started the AmeriCup on Friday afternoon in San Juan but did not get the result they hoped for after falling 72-60 to Colombia. 

In the first quarter, Colombia opened up a 12-6 lead before Natalie Day hit back-to-back three pointers to tie the score for the Virgin Islands. Mabel Martinez hit a three point shot for Colombia on the next possession before the teams both went scoreless for two minutes. Colombia’s Mayra Caicedo hit a remarkable half court shot to end the quarter, and her team led 18-12 going into the second quarter.  

Colombia kept their run going as the second quarter got underway and scored 6 of the quarter's first 7 points to open up a 24-13 lead with 6:30 seconds left in the half. The Virgin Islands called a timeout, which proved important as the team managed to score 7 straight points to trim the deficit to 4 with 5:47 left in the quarter. Columbia finished the rest of the quarter by outscoring the Virgin Islands 15-8 for a 39-28 lead at halftime. 

The score was 47-35 in Colombia's favor with just over 7 minutes left in the third quarter. However, Colombia closed the quarter on a 13-6 run to put more room between them and the Virgin Islands and led 60-41 going into the final quarter.

The Virgin Islands outscored Colombia 19-12 in the fourth quarter but it was not enough to overcome the deficit. 

Anisha George scored 18 points to lead the Virgin Islands in scoring, while Natalie Day had 12 points and Imani Tate 10 points to round out the Virgin Islands scores in double digits. Tate had 14 rebounds and Day had 10 rebounds which gave them both double-doubles.

Yaneth Arias was the game’s leading scorer with 19 points, Manuela Rios had 14 points, Narlyn Mosquera had 12 points and Daniela Gonzalez had 11 points for Colombia. Arias and Mosquera had 10 rebounds. 

The Virgin Islands will resume AmeriCup play today against #4 World Ranked Canada at 12:10 p.m. on ESPN+.

 

Get the latest news straight to your phone with the VI Consortium app.