{"id":410467,"date":"2024-06-25T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-25T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=410467"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Redeem-Team-shines-with-silver-finish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Redeem-Team-shines-with-silver-finish\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Redeem Team\u2019 shines with silver finish"},"content":{"rendered":"

MAJURO, Marshall Islands\u2014<\/strong>The NMI National Women\u2019s Basketball Team, or dubbed \u201cRedeem Team\u201d by coach Connie Camacho, indeed redeemed themselves with their silver medal finish in the 10th in the 2024 Micronesian Games last Sunday night.<\/p>\n

Despite a big blow in their 34-80 loss against Guam in the finals, the NMI women\u2019s team is back on the podium after falling short in the 2018 Micronesian Games in Yap.<\/p>\n

It was a slow burn for NMI as Guam outscored them, 9-4 in the first few minutes of the first quarter. But the NMI then kept pace from aggressive takes under the basket by Azzy Fatialofa with assists from Mikki Kautz.<\/p>\n

It was the closest the game was at the end of the first, 8-16, as Guam closed their defenses and allowed baskets slim to none.<\/p>\n

Guam kept their firepower going throughout the game as NMI continued to fight to get their score on the board moving.<\/p>\n

Fatialofa tried her best to use her tall frame to her advantage by pulling in and out of Guam\u2019s defense and get some points on the board. Ultimately, Guam left them powerless as their lead grew and grew until the margin totaled 46 points.<\/p>\n

Fatialofa put up 15 points, while California fly-in Alliyah Fernandez scored 11.<\/p>\n

In the game before the finals, host Republic of Marshall Islands secured the bronze medal over Chuuk.<\/p>\n

Camacho said of their game, \u201cthat was very tough\u2014they blew us out but I mean that\u2019s happened before in the 2010 Micronesian Games gold medal game. Their girls have been playing more\u2014they have basic fundamentals, but as for our girls, they\u2019re still growing and it\u2019s their first time playing together.\u201d<\/p>\n

As to the girls\u2019 performance and their silver run in the Games, she said, \u201cI can say that as I predicted, we redeemed ourselves\u2014and we\u2019re not just Top 3, we\u2019re Top 2 in Micronesia, so I want them to keep that level.\u201d<\/p>\n

She hopes that the NMI women\u2019s team retains their Top 2 seeding for the next Micro Games which is in 2026 in Nauru.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, we continue and develop the same girls or girls that are interested,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

With how the team could develop more, the many-time national player and now first-time coach said, \u201cWe have young high school players. They have two years to continue to practice, learn the basics, and just build their IQ because they haven\u2019t really played because there\u2019s no leagues back home. Before we came here we played against boys. But this is a learning experience and we hope to have some of the girls back because we want to beat Guam someday.\u201d<\/p>\n

With her first time to coach the national team and if she\u2019ll coach the team again for the next Micro Games, she said, \u201cIt\u2019s a learning experience for me too. I have to really be patient. Teaching is different than playing, but we\u2019re at this level and we have to keep playing at this level. So, we\u2019ll see where it goes. I\u2019m looking to coach again but it is very difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

Team captain Irish Pagarao, for her part, said, \u201cWe did well. With the young girls, I\u2019m impressed. I\u2019m surprised that they can play\u2014they just need more experience off island. We can\u2019t just stay in our island because they\u2019re not going to know what\u2019s going on outside if they don\u2019t experience outside competition\u201d.<\/p>\n

As for the NMI National Men\u2019s Basketball Team, they wrapped up their stint in the Games with a win over Nauru, 76-35.<\/p>\n

The NMI settled for seventh place after their 2-2 finish in the Games.<\/p>\n

First place was Guam, second place went to Pohnpei, and third place was RMI.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The NMI National Women\u2019s Basketball Team poses with their silver medals during the awards ceremony in the 10th Micronesian Games in Majuro, Marshall Islands last Sunday night.<\/p>\n

-CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
<\/figcaption><\/figure>

<\/p>\n

NMI\u2019s Azzy Fatialofa goes for the opening jump ball against Guam in their gold medal showdown in the 10th Micronesian Games in Majuro, Marshall Islands last Sunday.<\/p>\n

-LEIGH GASES
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MAJURO, Marshall Islands\u2014The NMI National Women\u2019s Basketball Team, or dubbed \u201cRedeem Team\u201d by coach Connie…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-410467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410467\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}