Apia (Samoa) - Defending Champion Fiji's goal to defend their crown has started off in a raucous start after sweeping their Group Phase campaign and advancing straight to the Semi-Final Round of the 2019 Pacific Games Women's basketball tournament.

Val Nainima has led the charge right from the get-go with her impressive all-around numbers, averaging 15.7 ppg, 5.0 rpg and 5.3 apg but the current assistant coach for Fordham University is wary of the team resting on their laurels.

"It may look like it's easy but it's not. Every game we have a lot of people stepping up for our team and I'm very proud of our defense today," said Nainima after Fiji's 65-45 win over host Samoa.

"We can definitely improve our communication on defense because that's where our focus is, we want our defense to dictate our tempo," she added.

Defending Champion Fiji's goal to defend their crown has started off in a raucous start after sweeping their Group Phase campaign and advancing straight to the Semi-Final Round

Nainima singled out their win against the Cook Islands as a good test for the team in their quest to retain their Gold Medal and believes the competition has leveled up in this year's games.

"Cook Islands was a great test for us that gave us a realistic view of where we're at. We have been locked in, to getting better every day because the competition is really tough, our pool prepared as well going into the Semi-Finals," she said.

"I love the tournament, the competition this year has been really high. I think it's really great that a lot of the teams are bringing in their experienced and exposed players that are based from different countries," she added.

Put on the spot and asked if it's gold or bust for Fiji, Nainima had one word to answer the question.

"Absolutely."

FIBA