MANGILAO (Guam) – The stage is set for the FIBA Women’s Micronesian Cup 2022 Finals, with Guam and the Northern Marianas Islands poised to face off in the gold medal game.

The Northern Marianas Islands (NMI) will be hoping to back up their performance today for the gold medal game after easily accounting for the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), 110-28.  Ky’Sonna Won scored a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds.

“Our energy was great today,” Won said.  “We were pushing the ball, getting a lot of fastbreak lay-ups and getting a bunch of steals on defence.”

Ahead of the gold medal game tomorrow, Won said the girls are excited but will remain level-headed.  “Tomorrow, we plan to play hard.  The first time we played Guam, we didn’t play too well, but this time, after we have got the first game jitters out of the way, we are ready.”

FSM Power Forward, Jilda Lemangmai, scored 18 of her teams 28 points in their defeat and is enjoying the opportunity representing her country at the FIBA Micronesian Cup 2022.

“We are all one big family, the coach, and my teammates, we all support each other and encourage each other to push forward,” Lemangmai said.  “Even though we have lost our games, we are having a lot of fun playing basketball and getting to know each other.  We are all from different islands, so it has been good to get to know everyone.”

Lemangmai cites  this event as an opportunity to inspire her country.  “There are four stars in the Micronesia (flag), and we are all from different islands, so coming together as one team with one mindset has been important.  We are playing for our islands.”

In the final women’s match of the day, Guam took care of business defeating Palau, 89-36.  In a fast, physical match, the home crowd threw their support behind the local team.  Shooting 100 percent from the free throw line today, Guam Captain, Derin Stinnett, played a pivotal part in the team’s victory and said the home crowd support was amazing.

“It’s a pleasure to play in front of the home crowd, especially with the long Covid drought, it’s exciting to get back into sport and with all this new young blood, it’s exciting.”

Guam will look to build on their tournament dominance tomorrow in the gold medal game against NMI.  “We have been playing team ball and a lot of man defence, so just sticking to those principles and sharing the ball will all contribute to our game tomorrow,” Stinnett concluded.

FIBA Women’s Micronesian Cup 2022 Finals will be played at the following times: Bronze Medal Game, PLW VS FSM at 11:15am (GMT +10).  Gold Medal Game, GUM VS NMI at 15:45pm (GMT +10).

All finals will be streamed on the FIBA YouTube Channel - Men's Competition and Women's Competition. For the full event schedule click here. 

The FIBA Micronesian Cup 2022 features national teams from across Micronesia, with 16 games to be played across four days from June 8 to 11 in Mangilao, Guam.  The top team will qualify for the 2023 Pacific Games.