Lady Warriors ‘earn’ 7th hoops title

By Cayman Sports Buzz
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Updated: 20 June 2018

It was Rudy Tomjanovich who declared “never underestimate the heart of a champion” after leading his Houston Rockets to back-to-back NBA titles in the 1990s. That saying rang true at the Arts and Recreation Centre at Camana Bay Tuesday night (19 June), as the Tribe Tattoo Lady Warriors were made to dig deep before celebrating their fourth title in a row.

After seeing off a challenge from National Concrete Islanders in game one two days earlier, the Lady Warriors were not guaranteed anything but a tough battle to close out the best-of-three Cayman Islands Basketball Association 2018 Women’s League finals series.

The defending champs held a narrow 33-31 lead at the half but found themselves trailing in the third quarter due to the tenacious spirit of the Islanders. League and finals MVP Courtisha Ebanks pulled the Lady Warriors level on 38 points with a layup after a foul with 2:48 left in the game.

With 1:46 left on the clock, guard Hannah Parchment was sent to the line with the scores still equal. “The only thing I’m thinking about is clearing my mind and scoring that basket, not really thinking about the score, not everybody and the pressure, just me and the basket,” she later said after sinking the pair to take a two-point lead.

: Courtisha Ebanks was named MVP.

: Oneissha Cayasso had a game-high 17 points

Two more makes by Parchment from the charity stripe with 1:17 on the clock extended the lead to four points. Oneissha Cayasso took the ball coast-to-coast for the Islanders and pulled up to sink a shot from the paint but a bucket by Lady Warriors captain Dionne Anglin and another free throw by Parchment ensured any comeback would be thwarted and celebrations ensued for the now seven-time champions with the 45-42 win.

“They’ve been hyping about this since the league started. All they wanted was another championship and I’m glad I was able to help them get there,” Parchment, who scored a team-high 15 points, told reporters.

Lady Warriors coach Collin Anglin said winning another title was sweet because despite it being a 2-0 series sweep, victory did not come easy. “I told our ladies that one thing I loved about these two games [was that] we had to earn it. Hats off to the Islanders. They played a phenomenal game. They hustled; they made us work for every single thing. We had to earn it,” he told reporters.

: Scimone Campbell-Chin was making an impact until being injured.

: Lady Warriors captain Dionne Anglin anchors her defence.

“This was the first time in the whole league that we really trailed for that amount of time. So, it was a different kind of challenge where our ladies had to exercise composure; they had to sustain it mentally and that was extremely important for the first test like that that we really had,” he said.

Ebanks was solid at the defensive end with several key stops to go with her nine points on the night. “It was neck-and-neck. That’s how a finals should be,” she told CaymanSportsBuzz.com. “Our experienced players had to step up and we did that…everybody played their role and that’s how we came out with the victory.”

Despite the sweep, Islanders’ Stacey-Ann Kelly, who scored 13 points in the game, put the season in perspective. “This is a very young team. A lot of the players are still learning the game,” she said before declaring “we will be leaving with the title next year.”

National Cement Islanders gather around their injured captain.

The Islanders were forced to play the final quarter without their captain and MVP candidate Scimone Campbell-Chin, who went down with a lower leg injury after a drive to the basket late in the third period.

Kelly described her as “Ali Baba and the 40 thieves” because of he all-round importance to the team. “She’s 41 persons in one, so we missed a key player but I’m still very proud of the ladies because we were still able to hold the other team off and it was still a close game in the end. I think that’s very good for such a young team. My team did very well given the circumstances,” she said.

Oneissha Cayasso had a game-high 17 points.

Detailed stats will be updated later, as well as a full report on the Women’s League award winners.