The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE Bommer G Lady Operators refused to go down without a fight in the New Providence Women’s Basketball Association, winning game four 74-69 over the defending champions Career Building Lady Cheetahs to even the best-of-five series 2-2.

The fifth and deciding game is scheduled for 8pm tonight at the DW Davis Gym and both teams are confident that they will pull off the victory.

“We are right where we want to be,” said Lady Operators’ assistant coach Donnie Culmer. “Game five is going to be tough. We just have to come back here on Tuesday and dig down deep. All the girls have to do is listen. We listen to them and they listen to us and we should be victorious. It should be hard, but we are coming in here to fight, rebound and play a little bit of defence. We should be alright.”

Lady Cheetahs’ head coach Mario Bowleg was a little bit more peeved with their ineffectiveness to close the door on the Lady Operators.

“They didn’t come to play any basketball,” he said. “They decided to get beat. They came here and they played with no effort, no intensity level as if they wanted to win the series. You could tell that by some of the starters, that’s why I sit them down. They didn’t come to play basketball.”

Bommer G, who lost two straight after winning the opener, jumped out to a quick 11-7 lead in the first two minutes and extended it to 10 (21-11) with about two minutes left in the first quarter. After holding a 23-15 margin at the end of the period, the Lady Operators stayed ahead 42-31 at the half and they took a 53-46 advantage at the end of the third.

The Mail Boat, whose only lead came at the start of the game, managed to cut the deficit down to five as Phylicia Kelly took advantage of a personal foul and tech that forced Bommer G’s Chrishanda Rahming to make her exit with 4:54. She sunk four free throws for a 64-59 deficit.

But Sharelle Cash came back at the other end and canned a big three-pointer to push the Lady Operators back up by eight, 67-59. Again, down the stretch, every rally that the Lady Operators mounted, the Lady Operators responded as they were able to contain their composure.

“Basketball is a game of runs. It all depends on who can sustain their runs and maintain their composure when the other team make their run,” Culmer said. “Tonight, we jumped out on them and we were able to maintain it. Come game five, if we jump out on top of them, we have to use our timeouts wisely and go with the people who can make the right decisions and we will be alright.”

For the Career Builders, Bowleg said they will have to find that kind of intestinal fortitude that Bommer G came up with in game four.

“When you come to the championship series, players want to win games like these,” he said. “Coaches can only help players who want to win. Until our players make the adjustment to win, then ain’t nothing you can do as a coach. When they make the adjustment, then I can help them to make those adjustments on the floor.”

Diasti Delancy, who came through with a pair of clutch three-point plays as she drove to the basket in the fourth, finished with a side high 14 points, eight assists, six rebounds and four steals to lead the Lady Operators. Suzette McKenzie had 13 points with five rebounds, Sharelle Cash 11 points, Ashley Moss 10 points and 13 rebounds with two block shots and Rahming helped out with nine points before fouling out.

For the Lady Cheetahs, Kelly scored a game high 19 points with 11 rebounds, five assists and four steals. Christine Sinclair had 14 points and nine assists, Pamela Bethel 11 points and six rebounds, Linda Pierre 10 points and Annie Moultrie chipped in with eight points and 13 rebounds.

The winner of the championship will go on to represent the NPWBA at the Bahamas Basketball Federation’s National Round Robin Tournament set for April in Grand Bahama.