2024 Women’s Basketball League every Sunday

Get fit, make friends, and learn the ropes of basketball if you are a beginner in the 2024 Women’s Basketball League at the Gillette Multipurpose Gymnasium in Gualo Rai every Sunday.

The friendly league is open to all ages and there’s no team or registration fee. The games are every Sunday with the first day of games played last Sunday. The first game is at 12pm, second game is at 1pm, and the third game is at 2pm.

There were 51 players put into six teams during the two games last Sunday. The teams are Prime 1, Prime 2, Irish/Connie (black), Mikki/Kaia (white), Des/Vina (gray), and Lia/Madi.

The league is a mix of NMI Women’s National Basketball Team players and beginners. The rules are simple: national players cannot guard new players, and fast-break plays and full court presses are not allowed.

Irish Pagarao, NMI Women’s National Basketball Team pool player and one of the organizers of the league, said that she was happy with the turnout on the first day of games.

“I saw new faces and women aged 20 and up. Back then when I [first] organized this, it was mostly young girls that wanted to play, but this year, I am happy that new players want to try basketball. They said they had fun and will recruit other women,” she said.

With this league, she said, “My main focus is to get older women to come out and play and have fun. We still accept players that want to join.”

Marlene Lumabi, with the Northern Marianas Basketball Federation said of the league, “It’s to open up a women’s league for basketball, kind of like how soccer has leagues… It’s to kickstart the women’s program so we can invite more girls to come and play basketball, and also, it’s for anyone who wants to play a sport. We’re going to try to make it as friendly as possible.”

Interested but don’t have a team? Contact Irish Pagarao at (670)285-1138.