The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

AFTER divorcing themselves back in November, 2003, the New Providence Women’s Basketball Association and the New Providence Basketball Association will be coming back together in another love affair that will include a collaboration for the All-Star Classic on St Valentine’s Day.

Mynez Cargill-Sherman, who served as the initial president when the NPWBA broke away from the NPBA, is now back as the president of the NPWBA and she indicated that they have decided to reunite with the NPBA, now headed by Keith ‘Belzee’ Smith, for the purpose of helping to enhance both leagues.

The NPWBA, coming off a preseason tournament that saw the Carlton E Francis Rockets win the primary divisional title over the St Francis Joseph Shockers, while the Johnson’s Lady Truckers got by the defending champions Career Builder Lady Cheetahs in the senior division, will begin their regular season at the DW Davis Gymnasium on Saturday night.

According to Cargill-Sherman, the doors will open at 6:30pm with the official opening ceremonies at 7pm. In the opening game at 7:30pm, the Super Value Cybot Queens will take on the Johnson Lady Truckers, followed by the feature game between last year’s runners-up Bommer G Lady Operators vs the Lady Cheetahs in a rematch of last year’s final.

The only other team in the league is the Dee’s Saints. Both the College of the Bahamas Lady Caribs and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force Lady Waves have decided not to return this year because of the fact that neither of them have sufficient players to participate.

“We’re going to try to make it a little more fun and explore the exchange with the men’s league,” Cargill-Sherman said.

The first collaboration between the NPWBA and the NPBA dubbed ‘Cybots Fan Night’ is scheduled for Saturday, December 31.

During that night at the AF Adderley Gymnasium, the Lady Queens are slated to play the Lady Operators and the Mail Boat Cybots hit the court against the Y-Care Wreckers.

At the DW Davis Gymnasium, the Lady Cheetahs are set to face the Lady Truckers and, in the men’s feature game, the Patron Regulators play the PJ Stingers.

The All-Star Classic will be combined on Saturday, February 14 at the AF Adderley Gymnasium when the NPWBA’s stars will play in the opener at 7:30pm, followed by the NPBA stars in the feature contest at 9pm.

“We are just looking at ways to help each other with fund raising as well as fellowship,” Cargill-Sherman said. “After I was sorted after to return as the president, I just decided to look at ways that we could enhance the two leagues. I think this year, we will really be steadfast on the constitution as we look at not just a competitive league for us, but a successful merger with the NPBA.”

Smith, whose NPBA is now in the second half of its season, said the merger was long overdue and was something that they had initially looked at with former president Simone Beneby. He said he’s just glad that Cargill-Sherman is more receptive to the merger.

“I think it’s long overdue. We tried to do something like this a couple years ago. Simone and I had some dialogue about it in the best interest of the fans,” Smith said. “We have our core base of fans and the NPWBA has their chore base of fans. But we know that there are some fans who are interested in supporting both leagues.

“So there has always been that interaction, but I think the timing is right to do this. Mynez is coming in as the new president and this needs to be exposed and expanded so that the fan base for men’s and women’s basketball will recognise that we are all in this together. The pool is very small, so we must share and share alike because we want to present the best to the fans so they can come out and enjoy themselves.”

Having worked with Cargill-Sherman when she served as the initial president when the NPWBA decided to divorce the NPBA, Smith said they have talked about it because they both want to see the merger work. At the same time, it doesn’t mean that both leagues will reunite as one, but they just want to be more prudent in their administrations.

With just five teams in the league, Smith said they have also restructured their nights of operation. While games are set to continue on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday night, only one game will be played on Tuesday and Thursday nights, starting at 7:30pm with two games still on Saturday.

“We have a lot of parents and families coming out, plus for security reasons, we have decided that we won’t play the two games during the week,” Cargill-Sherman said. “We hope to be out of the area a little earlier in the week. So far it has been accepted across the board, so we will see how that works as well. But we also have some player movement, but we will have to take a look at them based on our constitution.”

The NPBA, by the way, is scheduled to be back in action at the AF Adderley Gymnasium this weekend.

FRIDAY at AF Adderley Gym

7:30pm - Commonwealth Bank Giants vs Double R Services Limited Cleaners

9pm - Real Deal Shockers vs Patron Regulators

SATURDAY at AF Adderley Gym

7:30pm - Rhythm Rebels vs Island Luck Pros

9pm - Pyramid Food Rockets vs PJ Stingers

SATURDAY at DW Davis Gym

7pm - Official opening ceremonies

7:30pm - Super Value Cybot Queens vs Johnson Lady Truckers

9pm - Bommer G Lady Operators vs Career Builders Lady Cheetahs