Road to the Pacific Games: American Samoa Women

The 2019 Pacific Games in Apia, Samoa (July 8-17) is the official Qualifier to the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup Pre-Qualifiers. The top 2 teams will qualify to the next round of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualification phase.

Apia (Samoa) – The American Samoa women’s basketball missed out on the podium in the 2018 FIBA Polynesia Cup and was not able to qualify directly to the 2019 Pacific Games.

But in a fortunate turn of events, American Samoa was given a wildcard ticket by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) to complete the eight-team cast of the prestigious quadrennial sports showpiece in the Pacific.

With this, American Samoa will have a golden opportunity to finally cap off an unfinished business after settling for just a Silver Medal in the 2015 Pacific Games which was won by Fiji.

Aside from Fiji, however, American Samoa is expected to have its hands full against other equally formidable teams like Guam, New Caledonia, Melanesia Cup champion Papua New Guinea, Tahiti, Polynesia Cup champion Cooks Islands and host Samoa.

QUALIFIERS

Parading an eight-man roster in the Polynesia Cup compared to a full strength showing in the last edition of the Pacific Games, American Samoa struggled in their regional qualifier campaign.

American Samoa got dominated by Tahiti (32-106), Samoa (35-89) and Cook Islands (27-92) in the four-team qualifiers among Polynesian teams.

It's struggle continued in the Bronze medal Match but this time, with a respectable 53-70 loss to Samoa to fall out of the Polynesia Cup podium.

POSSIBLE KEY PLAYERS

Jasmine Davis, Sarah Toeaina, Natalia Cravens 

 

American Samoa will be bolstered by the inclusion of WNBA Player Jazmine Davis who played for the Seatle Storm where she averaged 5.0 points, 0.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 0.5 blocks.

The former Washington stalwart Davis is expected to bring her wealth of experience especially also being the Huskies' all-time leading scorer with 2,277 points.

Also backstopping the Davis will Natalie Cravens and Sarah Toeaina both players add the much-needed depth and length to the  SQUAD.   

2015 PACIFIC GAMES PERFORMANCE

As mentioned above, American Samoa struggled in the Polynesia Cup largely because of its crippled crew with only eight players.

It was a far cry from the American Samoans’ magnificent campaign in the 2015 Pacific Games where they took home the silver medal.

With wins over Solomon Islands (80-44), New Caledonia (79-62), Tahiti (75-63) and Papua New Guinea (71-55) paired with a lone loss against Fiji (73-81) in the group stage, American Samoa advanced in the final right away together with unbeaten Fiji.

American Samoa stood its ground but ran out of steam down the wire, dropping a close 61-65 loss to just settle for the Silver Medal against eventual Gold Medalist, Fiji.

OUTLOOK

Following a dismal finish in the 2018 Polynesia Cup, expect American Samoa to come out in full swing this 2019 Pacific Games.

Known as a legitimate force to be reckoned with in the Pacific, the American Samoans will be surely out to reclaim that status in the Pacific’s largest sporting stage where they rose as the number 2 team in the last edition.

Helping them achieve that redemption bid is the assurance of ASBA to parade a full-strength squad in a mission to compete and improve from its Polynesia Cup campaign.

Given a trust by no less than the world basketball governing body with a wildcard ticket, American Samoa will be out to make the most out of that opportunity with anticipated all-out performance.

 For more Pacific Games information visit the official website here.

FIBA