Jan. 15, 2007 — In a down-to-the-wire thriller, Central High School's Lady Caribs held on to 59-53 victory over the Antilles Lady Canes on Monday, taking the girl's championship title in this year's Martin Luther King basketball tournament.
The tournament, held at the Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School gymnasium, ran throughout the weekend, starting last Friday and ending Monday afternoon.
The game was close at half, with the Caribs holding a slim six-point margin, 27-21. The first half was plagued with turnovers, most of which came from Antilles. Central used a man-to-man defense and double teamed Antilles' star player, Victoria Hamilton, to jump out to an early lead.
In the second half, Antilles came out with new energy, picking up the intensity of their zone defense. Hamilton's seven points in the third quarter led the Lady Canes' rally, and with 2.1 seconds left, a fast-break layup gave Antilles their first lead since the opening seconds of the game, putting the score at 37-35.
Chantal Cooper opened the fourth-quarter by driving past multiple defenders for an uncontested layup, pushing Antilles' lead to four. The Lady Caribs, desperately looking for some kind of spark, found one in Shawna Moving, who stopped the Canes' run and tied the score at 40 with 5:15 left in the game.
After the Canes briefly took back the lead, Central's Sherise Joseph tied the game again at 44 with 3:19 left. Moving then hit a shot to give Central the lead 44-46. Althea Gumbs responded with a three-pointer, giving the Canes a one-point lead. The teams continued to trade baskets until Moving hit two free throws, giving the Caribs a one-point lead.
In the last two minutes, the Canes' defense came up with some crucial stops, giving them a chance to tie the game with less than 15 seconds left. Cooper found herself left all alone for an open layup, but the ball slipped out her hands and the Caribs pounced at the chance to recover it.
Moving's aggressive second-half play allowed her to repeatedly get to the free-throw line, and in the last seconds of the game she found herself there again. Moving hit one of two free throws, which sealed the victory for the Caribs, giving the team a 53-49 lead and final score.
"I want to say congrats to my team," Moving said. "Although we played a little shaky at first, we got through it."
With a smile on her face, Moving attributed her additional motivation in the second half to a need to "beat" the Canes.
"I wanted to win it," she said. "I didn't want them to have their first win (over Central)."
Lady Caribs Coach Donald Bough said the matchup was a "fight all the way."
"This was the best two girls' teams, and it could have gone either way," he said. "We threw everything out — the kitchen sink, the cups, everything — and that's how it is, a fight all the way. But it boils down to a critical play at the end. As you can see, the game could have easily gone into overtime if (the Canes) didn't miss that layup, and it's going to be like that all the time."
Central made it to the championship round without playing any other team during the tournament. Antilles advanced after twice playing St. Croix Educational Complex, one game ending with a forfeit.
Leading scorers for Antilles were Cooper with 17 points and Hamilton with 16. For Central, Moving led all scorers with 24 points, while Shamyra Vanterpool scored 11.
Moving was also named tournament MVP, while Gumbs received the award for sportsmanship.
Back Talk Share your reaction to this news with other Source readers. Please include headline, your name and city and state/country or island where you reside.
