Cayman’s ability to field the top Under-15 girls basketball team in the region is not going unnoticed.
Both the Bahamas and Barbados have expressed a desire to bolster their squads for tournaments like the CentroBasket Championships. Bahamas Basketball Federation Vice President Mario Bowleg states his country will put renewed focus on the youth ranks.
”We must revamp that entire programme,” Bowleg said. “We have already put things in place for the seniors and now we need to do the same for the junior players. We have a lot of talent on the junior side at this age and some a little older.
“There are some ideas that have been in the minds of some executives now and we intend to discuss ways going forward during the month of October. We will revamp the team. The federation is definitely disappointed.”
The Cayman Islands competed at the 2012 CentroBasket tournament in Mexico City, Mexico last month. The likes of Chloe Powery propelled Cayman to a historic fifth place finish and fresh kudos as the top youth side in the Caribbean. In the process, Cayman crushed Barbados 63-33 and the Bahamas 81-50.
For Barbados Amateur Basketball Association President Derrick Garrett, that result requires a greater emphasis on Bajan skills.
“Our intention is to try to keep these players together to form the nucleus of our national team 10 or so years down the road,” Garrett said. “We want to start them at a very young age and develop them at the U15, U17 and U19 levels. It is an investment in the future.”
Cayman’s U15 boys basketball team recently wrapped up play in San Salvador, El Salvador. The boys returned home after finishing eighth out of eight countries. Cayman lost all five of their CentroBasket matches, mostly by large margins, to Mexico (127-27), El Salvador (108-18), the Bahamas (105-26), Costa Rica (73-21) and Barbados (64-49).
The top four teams, namely the Mexicans, Puerto Rico, Guatemala and the Bahamians, earned berths to the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) America Championships, which leads up to the FIBA World Championships.
Vice-captain Arin Taylor and Juawon Ebanks, both aged 14, were the top performers. Ebanks led the team in scoring, averaging 7.8 points per game, while Taylor was the team’s second-best scorer with 5.0ppg.
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