The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE Elite Ballers Club, featuring local female high school basketball players, returned home from the Dynasty Hoops Elite Championship as the champions over the weekend in Orlando, Florida.

The team, coached by Abel Joseph, Shakira Farrington and Ryan Turnquest, won the title on Saturday with a 56-24 rout over the Comets behind the most valuable player performance from Shenell Stewart.

The other members of the team were Danielle McCoy, Trinity Bodie, Geraniqua Bethel, Riccara Beadle, Savannah Turnquest, Reyanah Green, Shamaraja Cummings and T’Eanna Gibson.

According to Joseph, the team performed exceptionally well. “The team performance was great and even better than I expected,” he said. “When they got locked in on defense that was it. You could have seen the hard work they put on display on the court.”

The coaching staff have been grooming the girls since August when they started their training programme that has turned into a series of games played every Saturday since November.

Joseph said the girls were prepared for the challenge they faced at the tournament.

“As for the competition, it was good and I just feel like the girls were ready for whatever comes their way,” Joseph stressed as he critiqued their level of play. “They were ready to compete.”

Having performed as well as they did, Joseph said they are now eager to continue to put in the work so that they can continue to perform in the upcoming tournaments in the United States.

“We are going to continue our progress and hopefully the hard work will make the program even better as we get prepared for our next trip next month,” Joseph said. “Our job is not done yet. We are trying to open up some doors for the girls to be seen and have opportunities for them to go off to school.”

Turnquest, who originally decided to sponsor the team after the Bahamas Basketball Federation junior national team was unable to travel, said he was delighted to get the girls into a team that continues to train and travel to compete.

“I am just going to continue to push the program and build it. This club started off with these core girls and we are looking to continue to build,” he stressed. “When one goes to school we should be able to replace them with an equal or better talent and continue.”

The team will make their next trip to the United States to continue over the weekend of December 18-21 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Turnquest thanked the following companies for sponsoring the team. They include Bahamas Bus & Truck, the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, A Sure Win, Oasis Restaurant in Palmdale, Bahama Grill and the Twin Brothers Restaurant.