MANGILAO (Guam) – Guam and Australia have started their FIBA Under 15 Women’s Oceania Championship campaigns with convincing wins.

Host nation, Guam was too strong for Northern Mariana Islands (NMI) defeating their neighbours by 48 points, 85-37.

Despite a gallant effort from the NMI ladies with Andrei Chavez hitting 14 points and Azriel Fatialofa finishing with a double-double, 14 points and 20 rebounds, it was not enough to slow down Team Guam.

From the bench, Lana Quinata (14) and Sazzanei Quintanilla (17) finished with 31 points between them to start their tournament in a winning fashion.

“We all worked together really well today, we just focused on our game and worked hard,” Quintanilla said.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing with Quintanilla saying the whole game was pretty nerve racking.  “I was pretty nervous at the beginning both offensively and defensively because they are pretty fast both ends of the court.”

Guam will take on Papua New Guinea tomorrow afternoon with Quintanilla saying they have room to improve. “Communication is key, and we can always be better at that and better passes too.”

Defending champions, Australia tipped started their FIBA Under 15 Women’s Oceania Championship the same they finished in 2018, in winning style, defeating Samoa, 105-36.

Samoans Harmony Seumanutafa and Jennifer Mailei performed well with Seumanutafa finishing with 10 points and 8 turnovers while Mailei came away with 8 points and 10 rebounds.

Ruby Perkins, Emma Petrie and Zara Russell all finished on double points for Australia with Jesse-May Hall eclipsing the field to finish with 26 points and 6 steals.

“It’s our first time playing together, and we get along really well,” Hall said in relation to her team’s cohesion on the court.  “We played with lots of energy from the bench and players, defence is key for us.  Defence through to offence and just running is out main thing.

“Off the court we are only going to get closer, we have only been together and training for two days so the deeper we progress the better our connection will be.”

Day two of the FIBA Under 15 Women’s Oceania Championship tips off at University of Guam, Calvo Field House with Samoa taking on New Zealand at 10am and Guam up against Papua New Guinea at 4:45pm local time.

The FIBA U15 Oceanian Championships serve as qualifiers for the FIBA U16 Asian Championships 2023 with the top two teams going through.  The FIBA U15 Oceania Championships will be hosted in Guam from November 21 to November 26 - Follow the event here

FIBA