EL SALVADOR – Imani Tate and Anisha George combined for 36 points and 26 rebounds to help Virgin Islands win a nail biter over Dominican Republic in Centrobasket action on Friday night.

Despite DOM dominating the first the quarter, and holding onto the lead of 29-23 after ten minutes, but ISV came back to keep themselves in the game thanks to a combined 12 points from Akeema Richards and George.

Cesarina Capellan, Elemy Colome and Yohanna Morton all had 5 points each in the first quarter alone, but what kept ISV in the game was their ability to grab the boards before DOM could get to them, outrebounding their opponent 15-6 in the quarter.

Morton and Colome continued to help DOM dominate offensively, collecting 8 points and 10 points respectively in the half, while Colome also racked up 3 rebounds on the defensive end as DOM upped their aggression on the glass, upping their rebounds to 19 for the half.

Tate kept ISV in the game herself by racking up 14 points by the half, along with 7 rebounds, leading the team in both categories and cutting the team’s deficit to just 4 points entering the second half of the game.

Pressure in the paint and solid man-to-man defense helped ISV grab the lead for the first time in the game just over four minutes into the third quarter, with Naja Ngognba going on a 5-0 run by herself to put her team ahead of DOM by one.

Turnovers would be ISV’s downfall as the team got tired towards the end of the quarter, allowing their small lead to slip while Morton and Colome added another 10 points for DOM to snag a 66-64 lead going into the final 10 minutes.

Though the fourth quarter started off close, ISV once again took the lead, dominated by George and Tate with the help of Ngongba, who ended the game with 15 points and 5 rebounds. Brittney Matthew also got into double digit scoring for ISV, finishing the game with 12 points.

Morton, Colome and Capellan combined for 43 points and 11 rebounds collectively, but with the rest of the team only contributing 33 points it wasn’t enough to get the win.

ISV led in rebounds, both offensively and defensively, second chance points, points in the paint and points from the bench. The only category DOM led in was points from turnover, which kept them in the game for so long as ISV committed 24 turnovers that resulted in 23 points.

DOM will play again on Saturday, March 27 against El Salvador, while ISV will have a day off before facing off against El Salvador as well on Sunday, March 28 in the evening.

FIBA