The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Diasti Delancey may be sore for a couple of days, but helping the Bommer Gee Lady Operators to seal a 68-63 triumph to dethrone the two-time defending champions Career Builders Lady Cheetahs to regain the New Providence Women’s Basketball Association championship crown will more than make up for it.

With her right knee all scraped up after going down with an injury with three minutes and 58 seconds left in the second quarter with the score tied at 18-18, Delancey got some treatment on the sidelines and managed to slowly work her way back into the game.

With the game on the line in the extra five minutes, Delancey stepped it up with a lay-up to give the Lady Operators a 64-60 lead. After Linda Pierre completed a three-point play to bring the Lady Cheetahs within one, 64-63, Suzette McKenzie canned a jumper to push the Lady Operators up 66-63.

But Delancey made not one but two more big plays, stealing the ball and then driving to the basket to score a fast break lay-up just before the final buzzer sounded for the final score.

“I didn’t think I could come back in the game because I was really hurting, but I didn’t want us to lose,” said Delancey, who played with the heart of a lion. “It felt good out there (once I got back). We worked so hard for this. It’s about time that we won.”

It came down to the fifth and deciding game of the series and in what turned out to be a defensive battle, the Operators prevailed after blowing as much as a 10-point lead at one point in the second half. The game was a keenly contested one with the Lady Cheetahs leading 12-11 at the end of the first quarter and was tied at 22-22 at the half.

The Lady Operators surged ahead 42-34 at the end of the third, but it was tied 57-57 at the end of regulation, even though the Lady Cheetahs played the majority of the period without a foul until Moultrie picked up the first one on Ashley Moss with 1.18 remaining.

“I knew this was going to be a dog fight. All through our walk through yesterday (Monday), we talked about it, but we just had to keep our composure,” said Lady Operators’ assistant coach Donnie Culmer. “They are a good team. They are the two-time defending champions.

“We’ve been here four years in a row and it could have been anybody’s game tonight, but Diasti and the rest of the girls really dug down deep and we came out victorious.”

As for Delancey’s herioc efforts, Culmer said after she went down, he asked her if she could go and she was apprehensive. But he noted that after they got in trouble, she decided to take one more shot and the rest was history.

Despite the injury, Delancey finished with 11 points, four assists and three steals. Malesha Peterson, who made her exit from the game with Lady Cheetahs’ Phylicia Kelly after they were hit with a double technical foul for a shoving match with less than two minutes to go, led the Lady Operators with a game high 18 points. Sharelle Cash also contributed 11 points and Ashley Moss had seven points with 18 rebounds.

In a losing effort, Kelly pumped in 14 points with six rebounds, Annie Moultrie, who fouled out with 23.4 seconds left in regulation, had 11 points and 14 rebounds, Alyse Dean also had 11 points, while Linda Pierre had 10 points and six rebounds and Pamela Bethel chipped in with nine points and 18 rebounds.

“In my opinion, we should have never lost the game, but congratulations to them,” said Lady Cheetahs’ coach Mario Bowleg. “They played like they wanted it. But we had too many key players who fouled out down the final stretch of the game. We had some players in the crunch time, which was not to our liking and, as a result, we lost.”

The Lady Operators, whose sponsor Bommer George brought out the champagne to start the celebrations, will now prepare to join the New Providence Basketball Association champions Mail Boat Cybots, who will be heading to Grand Bahama next month for the Bahamas Basketball Federation’s National Round Robin Championships.