Micronesian Basketball, Teams, Scores, Stats, News, Standings

Join Us!!! We are looking for someone to help us cover Micronesian basketball. Please send us an e-mail.

The Federated States of Micronesia submitted a women team for the upcoming 2007 South Pacific Games which will be held in Samoa but the federation had to withdraw the team due to financial reason. This is of course a very bad news, one year before the 2008 FIBA Oceania Youth Tournament which will be held in Guam.

SPG Participating countries:
American Samoa
Fiji
New Caledonia
Papua New Guinea
Samoa
Solomon Islands
Tahiti

Withdrawals:
Mirconesia
Guam
Northern MarianasVanuatu

Some people in the various Federated States of Micronesia, and maybe some of our readers, are wondering why the micronesian states are sending teams to the international basketball tournament since they are unable to win a game. The federation is trying hard to improve the game in the country and playing hard and doing their best is the much you can ask for a basketball player. Playing in the major South Pacific Tournament is already a victory for Micronesia.

Why sending a team if this team would loose every game, why spending money to send 12 players to another country if they are unable to come back with a medal? Legandary Green Bay Packer football coach Vince Lombardi is famous for his statement about how important it is to win. What most don't know is that he said the second greatest thing is to lie on the field defeated, but having given everthing, your best, in the pursuit of victory. The Olympics does not talk about winning but about participating. The federation thinks to the small FSM states team has earn a lot of experience during the Microgames and the united Micronesia national team will be much better in the upcoming tournament.
This summer, FSM Basketball Federation submitted a proposal to the country Olympic comittee outlining a plan for national men and women's teams to compete in the 2007 Pacific Games in Samoa. In the FSM Games and Micronesian Games the four states of the FSM - Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei & Yap - compete separately. It is not until the Pacific Games, or an Oceania basketball tournament, that there is the opportunity for the FSM to select national teams. It is obvious that national teams are stronger than one state team, and it provides the opportunity for the elite basketball players of our nation to experience a more competitive level of basketball. Thus, this national basketball program is the next logical step in the development of the sport.

This summer, Pohnpei was the best of the Federated State of Micronesia in the Micronesian Games Basketball Tournament held in the Northern Marianas Island. Led by Stephanie Yamada, Pohnpei took the Bronze medal just behind Palau and the host nation CNMI. Let's make a recap of the team's performance there.

Results:
Pool phase:
Pohnpei - CNMI: 56-62
Romalinda Souwelian 14pts 6/11FG 5rbs
Stephanie Yamada 11pts 5/15FG 6rbs

Pohnpei - Yap: 93-17
Stephanie Yamada 23pts 10/21FG 10rbs 7st
Romalinda Souwelian 15pts 6/15FG 6rbs 6st

Pohnpei - Palau: 58-52
Stephanie Yamada 21pts 7/21FG 11rbs
Romalinda Souwelian 15pts 6/13FG 8rbs 7st

Pohnpei - Chuuk: 75-40
Stephanie Yamada 21pts 8/18FG 6rbs
Pathsiba Neth 15pts 4/15FG 8rbs

Semifinals:
Pohnpei - Palau: 40-43
Stephanie Yamada 17pts 8/14FG 16rbs
Romalinda Souwelian 7pts 2/11FG 9rbs

Bronze medal game:
Pohnpei - Chuuk: 81-39
Pathsiba Neth 16pts 8/16FG 9rbs
Stephanie Yamada 11pts 4/15FG 17rbs

Recap:
Pohnpei could have won the Gold with more luck, unfortunatly the team came back home with the Bronze medal only after a 3-point loss in the semifinal against Palau. Stephanie Yamada was the team's leader and one of the best player of the tournament, she's a true scorer with a nice body. She's a dominating force at the Micronesian standart and did a great job carrying her team on her back. A better help from her teamate especially in the semifinals could have been a major boost for Pohnpei. Romalinda Souwelian and Pathsiba Neth are both good players but they didn't make a constant tournament. Souwelian is a good back-court player, she just need to improve her shooting skills a little bit, she made only 2/11 from the field in the semi. Neth started the tournament injuried and played better and better throughout the week, she was the best scorer in the Bronze medal game and provided a nice spark from the bench during the tournament. Along with Yamada and Souwelian, Miora Kerson, Grace Tobin and Gina Tobin were also playing in the starting five. Kerson was a solid contributor on the offensive end while the Tobin sister did most of their job on the defensive end. Meagan Yamaguchi was also a noticable player one the bench.
Pohnpei made a good tournament and this team should be the core of the Federated State of Micronesia national team in the next FIBA Oceania Tournaments.

Stats:
Stephanie Yamada (G/F) 17.3pts 40.4%FG 11.0rbs 1.3ast 31min 6gp
Romalinda Souwelian (G) 10.3pts 38.2%FG 6.2rbs 1.7ast 26min 6gp
Pathsiba Neth (F) 10.3pts 40.9%FG 5.5rbs 0.0ast 18min 4gp
Miora Kerson (F) 9.3pts 38.8%FG 4.0rbs 0.7ast 25min 6gp
Meagan Yamaguchi (G) 7.2pts 33.3%FG 4.5rbs 1.3ast 16min 6gp
Grace Tobin (G) 4.0pts 27.9%FG 5.2rbs 1.2ast 26min 6gp
Benrihda Micky (F) 3.8pts 40.0%FG 0.6rbs 0.4ast 8min 5gp
Hereca Reyes (F) 3.7pts 45.5%FG 1.0rbs 0.0ast 5min 3gp
Mariko Omura (G) 2.3pts 20.7%FG 0.3rbs 0.3ast 9min 6gp
Gina Tobin (C) 2.3pts 20.0%FG 5.2rbs 0.7ast 20min 6gp
Scarlette Single 1.7pts 38.5%FG 2.3rbs 0.0ast 9min 6gp
Shiela Suwei (C) 0.8pts 28.6%FG 3.8rbs 0.2ast 13min 6gp

Final Standings:
1- CNMI
2- Palau
3- Pohnpei
4- Chuuk5- Yap

Micronesian Basketball (Women)