SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — Undaunted by the competition, the USVI National Basketball team won the silver medal at the FIBA CentroBasket Women’s Championship this weekend.
With a second place finish, the U.S. Virgin Islands’ squad earns a berth in the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup 2021 Championships taking place in June.
Puerto Rico took first place and solidified their spot in the FIBA AmeriCup 2021 Championships halfway through the tournament thanks to their undefeated run during the action. Veteran point guard and tournament MVP Pamela Rosado helped her team in the feat, averaging 13.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and six assists per game.
The U.S. Virgin Islands was led by the dynamic duo of Anisha George and Imani Tate, who were the top two scorers of the tournament.
George scored 80 points over the four games while Tate scored 65. The USVI team lost only one game in the tournament, being edged out by top contenders Puerto Rico by just four points in their first game of the competition.
The tournament also honored an All-Star 5, which was comprised of Anisha George, Imani Tate, Jada Stinson, Pamela Rosado and Elemy Colome. While George, Tate and Colome led the tournament in scoring, with U.S. Virgin Islands’ duo also leading the competition in rebounds,
Stinson, teammate of Rosado, also was in the top five of scoring, shooting percentage, and 3-pointers. Rosado was in the top 10 of multiple categories, including assists, trailing only Tate.
The Dominican Republic took the bronze at the tournament, only losing games to Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands, and came out of a close matchup against Costa Rica thanks to a combined 37 points and 12 rebounds from Elemy Colome and Yohanna Morton.
El Salvador, the home team, qualified for the AmeriCup in June with their fourth-place finish, with their win over Costa Rica helping them grab the fourth spot after the podium. 19-year-old Kimberly Villalobos averaged a double-double in the tournament, with an average of 11 points and 11.3 rebounds, and only failed to record a double-double just one time in the action.
Costa Rica, despite many close games, was unable to get a win out of the tournament with such close competition, but Silvia Betancourt Flores and Natalia Galvez each averaged 11 points per game in Centrobasket action.
With teams fighting for the podium spots until the end of day five of action, the tournament showcased talent of all ages in Central America that will take on the rest of the Americas in June.
The Centrobasket Women’s Championship was held in El Salvador from March 24 to March 28.