After dominating for much of the proceedings, Trinidad and Tobago's (T&T) U16 women suffered a heart wrenching loss to hosts Nicaragua in their opening game of the Centrobasket U17 Women's 2023 Qualifiers, in Managua Nicaragua.
T&T started well, settling early, and opening the scoring through Amariah Clyne. The girls in red looked solid on the defensive end as well, with Mariah Charles coming up with big blocks and timely rebounds to keep her Nicaraguan counterparts at bay. Recognizing T&T's deficit in playing personnel, Nicaragua employed a full court press to wear T&T's players down, but T&T captain, Carissa Ramdial, took control of the game and her crafty handles kept T&T in the ascendancy throughout the first quarter which ended 8 - 13 in T&T's favor.
Nicaragua had a better start to the second quarter, cutting T&T's lead to one point early on. Both teams traded attempts at the basket without scoring, before T&T got their first basket of the 2nd quarter with 3:35 remaining in the half. Ramdial hit a long range three to extend the lead, before Clyne notched a tidy finish in the closing seconds of the first half for a 14 - 20 lead at the break.
At the start of the third quarter, Nicaragua was once again faster out of the blocks, knocking down an early three pointer to get the home crowd on their feet. Ty Warwick helped in quieting the Nicaraguan faithful, going coast to coast off a defensive rebound and scoring both free throws after being fouled. Ramdial hit another long range three, and Clyne came up big with crucial points in the paint, but with Ramdial going out of the game on multiple occasions due to injury, Nicaragua rallied and kept things close, finishing the quarter 30 - 35 in favor of T&T.
As had become the trend, Nicaragua struck first in the fourth quarter, and kept that momentum to eventually take a 37 - 36 lead with just over six minutes to go in the game. Two long range daggers from Ramdial and Maya Raymond turned the game in T&T's favor, however with Charles eventually fouling out, the home team managed another offensive surge which saw them go to front 43 - 42 with 4:35 on the clock. The T&T ladies gave everything they had to bring the game back but were visibly tired at this point, and had little left to regain the lead, with Nicaragua holding on for a 50 - 44 victory.
For T&T, point guard Ramdial led with 15Pts along 6Rebs, 4Asts, 3Stls, 1Blk & 4To but recorded a -1 game efficiency (eff). While, Clyne had double double 12Pts & 11Rebs together with 6Stls & 7To with a team high +14 eff. Warrick contributed 5Pts, 8Rebs, 2Ast, 1Blk, 4To for a -6 eff. Center Mariah Charles had 2Pts, 8Rebs, 2Blks for a +9 eff.
For Nicaragua, small forward Leisha Romero led with a double double 16pts, 10Rebs, 3Asts, 4Stls, 1Blk, 6To with a game high +23 eff. Power forward Grisell Gullen also had a double 13Pts & 12Rebs for a +14 eff. Team Nicaragua out rebounded T&T 69 to 54. However, Nicaragua recorded more turnovers 28 in comparison to T&T's 19 but enjoyed a better shooting efficiency from the field.
T&T will look to bounce back quickly when they face Panama in their second game, 5:00pm (T&T Time) on Thursday 28th July, 2022 at the Alexis Arguello Sports Complex.
Source: NBFTT Press Release, 28 July 2022
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