Apia (Samoa) – Serving as host for the first time since 2007, Samoa women’s national basketball team is already seeded to the 2019 Pacific Games.

It will be the return of Samoa in the Pacific Games after missing out in the 2015 Pacific Games which was won by Fiji and similar to their men’s team, the Samoans are slowly but surely roaring back in the Pacific especially after a successful staging of the first-ever FIBA Polynesia Cup last year.

With yet another prestigious tournament hosting, expect Samoa to fashion out a better performance in front of its home crowd against visiting neighbors Guam, Tahiti, Fiji, New Caledonia, American Samoa, Papua New Guinea and 2018 Polynesia Cup champion Cook Islands in this quadrennial sports showpiece in the Pacific.

QUALIFIERS

Though already qualified to the 2019 Pacific Games as the host nation, Samoa still participated and impressed in the 2018 Polynesia Cup it also hosted.

In the elimination round, Samoa was overwhelmed by eventual champion Cook Islands, 47-80 and silver medalist Tahiti, 53-76.

Gaining experience and ground along the way through, the Samoans managed to secure the bronze medal after a huge 70-53 win over American Samoa in the battle for third – which they expect to serve as a springboard coming into the Pacific Games with the home crowd behind their back.

POSSIBLE KEY PLAYERS

Cherish Manumaleuga, Frances Teneva Ropati, Aufui Sau

The dazzling 5-foot-8 guard Manumaleuga served as the catalyst in Samoa’s bronze medal run in the Polynesia Cup behind averages of 18.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.3 assists.

Her impressive campaign earned her a slot in the All-Star Five team together with the Cook Islands’ Keziah Brittany Lewis and Terai Sadler; and Tahiti’s Oceane LeFranc and Aeata Tepu.

Expected to provide support for the spitfire scorer are bigs Frances Teneva Ropati and Aufui Sau who both registered a near double-double average in the Polynesia Cup.

Ropati normed 7.8 points and 9.2 rebounds on top of 2.4 steals while Sau posted 10.8 points and 8.2 rebounds.

2015 PACIFIC GAMES PERFORMANCE

As mentioned above, Samoa did not field a women’s team in the last edition of the Pacific Games.

The Samons’ last stint was in 2011 when they finished at fourth place after a 51-64 loss to Fiji in the bronze medal match.

OUTLOOK

Buoyed by an expected loud roar of its home fans and the thirst in their Pacific Games return, Samoa is setting its sight on at least a podium finish against a slew of counterparts led by 2015 Pacific Games titlist Fiji and 2018 Polynesia Cup champion Cook Islands.

The 2019 Pacific Games in Apia, Samoa (July 8-17) is the official Qualifier to the FIBA Asia Cup Pre-Qualifiers. The top 2 teams will qualify to the next round of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualification phase.

FIBA