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Ebanks off to Baton Rouge!

18 year old Arleny Ebanks is off to Baton Rouge Community College in Louisiana this summer.

The 6’3 center played just her first year in the National Women’s Basketball league when she joined the league’s runners up “Islanders” this season.

Ebanks began learning the game of Basketball recently in 2019. It was National Youth and Assistant Women’s Coach Cory McGee who saw huge potential and took the stellar rebounder under his wing and prepared her for battle in a little over a year.

Ebanks joined the Breakfast Club morning program where she improved her skill and knowledge of the game preparing her for the next 4 years of tertiary education. She’s also looking forward to giving back to the Cayman Islands National programs.

All the best Arleny!!!!🏀🤗

A Fearless Victory

Women of Valor Fearless are the new 2021 PWC National U16 Girls Champions 🏀🥇🏆💙👍🏼💪🏽

The WOV Fearless defeated Women of Valor Courage in a nail biting overtime finish on Saturday evening (July 10) at the John Gray Gym.

Courage led the game in the first quarter as their star player Annika Moore kept her teammates in the game but with a few defensive adjustments from Fearless Coach April Ebanks, Selezqua McLaughlin and her squad were neck and neck with the regular season champs through the end. When Fearless’ leading scorer McLaughlin fouled out late in the 3rd quarter everyone thought the game was over. But a few mins into the 4th quarter Courage’s leading scorer Moore also got her 5th foul. For the remainder of the game both teams were forced to finish without their leading scorers.

Selezqua McLaughlin led her Fearless team with 21 points. But it was Brivanna Bodden who stepped up big time for Fearless with 14 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals. Also worthy of note, Bodden was 100% on the freethrow line.

Lorrie Brown also stepped up big grabbing 20 rebounds and 8 points.

For Courage: Annika Moore led the team with 31 points, 10 rebounds, 7 steals and 3 blocks.

The final score 51 to 49

Warriors Claim Under 16 Title!

Warriors are the new 2021 PWC National U16 Boys championships. 🏆🏀❤💪🏽👍🏼

From the jump, the Ice Tray and Warriors matchup was a close encounter with several lead changes. Nathaniel Anderson put on a show for the Ice Tray fans but in the end the Warriors would emerge victorious.

After Warriors star player Xzavier Miller was fouled out with two minutes left in the 4th quarter one would think the game would be over but the Warriors team stepped up and showed why practice makes perfect and the team with the least mistakes win.

For Warriors: Enarre Smith led the charge with 15 points, But it would be Xzavier Miller’s 15 rebounds and 12 points that kept the team afloat; Umar Gordon and Jamar Ellis both added points each.

For Ice Tray: Nathaniel Anderson too scored with 23 points and Andrew Stone followed with 12 points and 14 rebounds.

Final score: Warriors 54 Ice Tray 51

Islanders Advance to Finals

Women’s Basketball playoff action continued with Islanders vs. Logic WOV

Islanders swept the series 2-0 and will move into the final against Rawlinson and Hunter Women of Valour All Stars.

Four players were in double digits for Islanders…Neandra Forbes and Charlene Seymour shared 12 points an a combination of 11 rebounds, Geneve Magnon also added 12 points, but grabbed 8 rebounds, 4 blocks, 2 steals and Victoria Grey led her team with 19 points, 15 rebounds, 7 steals and 3 assists….3 rebounds shy of a triple double.

Annika Moore led for Logic WOV with 19 points, 8 rebounds an 5 steals. Leandra Watson followed with 11 points, 2 steals and Lorrie Brown added 10 points.

The final score Islanders 72 Logic 46

The final will see Islanders take on Rawlinson & Hunter this Sunday June 6th at the John Gray Gymnasium.

Picture Credit: Helen Jones CIBA Photographer.

Anika Moore Dominates Week 2

The stars were shining brightly this past Sunday at the John Gray Gym; but none shined more brightly in the Deloitte Under 19 Girls Basketball League than Anika Moore of the Women of Valor Courage.

In her first game, Moore filled up the stat sheet with 9 points, 10 rebounds, 5 steals and 3 assists against the WOV Fearless. Although her team lost by 5 points, Moore was out for blood in her second game and posted a season high 25 points, 20 rebounds and 4 steals! Earning her the undisputed player of the week honours for week two! Teams will obviously be on the lookout for Moore this Sunday as action for the ladies continues at the John Gray Gymnasium at 3:00 pm, November 29th.

Leon Harris Earns Player of the Week

After another exciting week of action in the Deloitte Under 19 Boys basketball League. This week’s honours go to Leon Harris of the CI Hoopsters. In his first game this past Sunday, Harris poured in 18 points and grabbed 7 rebounds to lead his team past Chino Hills in a 48-39 victory.

In his second game for the day, Harris posted an impressive double double against the the Sol Blazers. Although his team would lose by 3 points in overtime, Harris was the most dominant player, finishing with 13 points and 16 rebounds. Overall, Harris averaged 15.5 points and 11.5 rebounds.

Action continues at the John Gray High School Gymnasium on Sunday November 29th at 4 pm.

Deloitte Player of the Week – Boys

Marcus Fletcher earns player of the week rights for the Deloitte Under 19 Boys Basketball League.  Fletcher (of team Chino Hills) was the only player with a double digit scoring average, finishing with 30 points in his two games. Fletcher also was 2nd in Assists, 3rd in steals, 1st in 3 pointers made.  

Fletcher also shot 100% from 3 point range and 44% from within the ARC. 

Can Fletcher lead his team to the top of the standings this week?  Or will the formidable Sol Blazers remain undefeated?  Action continues this Sunday at 4:00 PM for the Boys. 

Deloitte Player Of the Week

Amaya Linwood is the the player of the week for her performance in 1st round action of the Deloitte Under 19 Girls Basketball League.

The league takes on a fast and furious format this year, as game time is slightly shortened but each team plays two games per day.  After 4 games of non stop action, Linwood emerged the most outstanding this week as she filled the stat sheets:

She averaged 12.5 points, 4 assists, 8.5 rebounds, 3.5 steals and 1 block per game. Did we mention that she is one of the youngest players in the league (14)?

Linwood also finished with the highest free throw percentage, 2nd in scoring, 1st in rebounds, 1st in assists, 3rd in steals, 1st in blocks.  Her team is the “Women of Valor Fearless”.

 Action continues this Sunday at 3 pm for the girls the John Gray High School Gymnasium.  

Basketball Standout O’Garro Commits to Oklahoma

By: Kevin Morales.

Caymanian Joshua O’Garro is making history.

O’Garro this week verbally committed to play basketball at the University of Oklahoma, which would make him the first Caymanian to play the sport at the NCAA Division I level.

“It’s a great day,” Cayman Islands basketball technical director Voot O’Garro told the Cayman Compass on Friday.

Joshua O’Garro this year wrapped up his junior season at Santa Clarita High School, in California. He caught the attention of several Division I men’s basketball programmes while moving up recruiting site rankings. He’s considered a three-star recruit by Rivals.com – one of the United States’ most recognised recruiting news services – which rates players on a five-star system. He was ranked a four-star recruit by 247Sports.com.

“It is a great program,” O’Garro told Rivals.com’s Corey Evans of OU. “They make great players and that’s what I want to be and I feel that Coach (Lon) Kruger and the staff are all invested in me as a person on and off the court. They believe in me and my abilities and I won’t let their belief go to waste.”

Evans tweeted a graphic illustration on Thursday showing O’Garro in a Sooners jersey. Oklahoma’s official men’s basketball Twitter account retweeted it.

O’Garro had planned on playing one more year of high school basketball. He reclassified to the class of 2020, however, because he met college academic requirements between his time at Santa Clarita and another prep school he previously attended, according to Voot O’Garro.

NCAA Division I is the top level of college sports in the US. The Sooners play in the Big 12 Conference, which is one of the most prestigious conferences in the US in terms of athletics success.

“The Cayman Islands native is one of the more gifted athletes we’ve had at BTI in 23 years,” tweeted BTI, O’Garro’s club team.

The Sooners have four players that currently play in the National Basketball Association, including the Detroit Pistons four-time All-Star Blake Griffin, Atlanta Hawks All-Star point guard Trey Young and Sacramento Kings guard Buddy Hield, who won the 3-point shootout competition at the 2020 NBA All-Star Weekend.

Oklahoma had made the NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship tournament in five of the last six years before the 2020 tournament was called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Sooners had put together a 19-12 record before the 2020 season was cancelled.

Joshua O’Garro has given a verbal commitment but has not yet signed his National Letter of Intent to attend the school, which would make the announcement official. He plans to redshirt next year, Voot O’Garro said. If a player is ‘redshirted’ it means the athlete is enrolled at the school and remains a member of the team but will not play that season. The player therefore does not begin his or her four years of eligibility to play until the following academic year.

As for the young athlete heading to Oklahoma, “This is going to take Cayman Islands basketball to the next level,” Caymanian basketball coach Corey McGee said.

Career Spotlight – Cory Thompson

He was arguably the best rebounder the Cayman Islands has ever seen, one of the country’s top defenders and possibly one of the greatest shot blockers in Cayman’s history.

Cayman Basketball built its foundation around this 6’3 versatile player who represented the three island nation at the very first NatWest Island Games and came away with a silver medal.

Got your attention? Good!

Now let’s read about 41 year old Cory Thompson who has paved the way for several young Cayman basketball players to take their talents overseas.

Ireland:

Cory Thompson signed his first professional contract in the Super league with a team called Neptune from Cork. While staying in Ireland for a few months which happened to be the same time as pre-season tryouts, Thompson was invited to train with the team for a few months and played the first few games with the them before returning to study at Hillsbourough County in Tampa, Florida.

Tampa:

In Tampa, this power forward and center played in a few local leagues and won 3 championships in which he was selected to play in the NBA Hoop It Up 3on3 challenge where he won the Men’s 1st Division B for the entire tournament.

United Kingdom:

In 1999 Thompson and his Cayman teammate Erdmon McCoy were offered contracts for 2 different teams. They both travelled to Cardiff to tryout with the Clippers and Coventry Tigers which they both got offered contracts.

According to Thompson, both he and McCoy returned home to Cayman to decide on which contract to take but unfortunately McCoy had broken his instep in a pre-season game where they both competed before heading back home….This prevented McCoy’s chance at the pro leagues. Thompson then however, decided not to return as well but to continue his studies in Florida.

After finishing College, Thompson returned to the UK and signed with the Southampton Trial Blazers in the 4th national league. His very first professional team. That season, Thompson and the Blazers went 15-0 to win the Southern Division.

A few seasons after, Thompson went onto play for Chichester Thunder where he also won the 4th Southern Division that year. Thompson was the 2nd top scorer on the team averaging a double in every game with 20+ points.

France:

Later on Thompson and most of his teammates from the Chichester squad joined the 1st division Worthing Thunder where they placed 2nd in the national division that year.

Thompson was also selected 3 years in a row to play in the Quartier Quest, a tournament held in Northern France which is the home town of the NBA’s Nicolas Batum of the Charlotte Hornets.

Thompson said, “he was fortunate to meet and play alongside Batum once as the Hornets did not make the NBA playoffs that year so Batum returned to France for competition.”

Members of the team consisted of top BBL players, England and Nigerian national team players.

However, Thompson said, “what was most important for me during that time playing and travelling around the UK was that I found time to obtain my Bacholer and Masters degrees in Communication Design along with my level 1 and 2 City and Guilds certificate in Web design.” He said he also became a level 1 coach and began coaching kids in a few camps in the UK and 1 in Norway.”

Finland:

When Thompson migrated to Finland he found a new passion in coaching but he also played in the men 2nd division. The first year he was the assistant coach for the U16 Boys 1st division. Thompson said the head coach allowed him to coach and change up his system because he wanted to mentor him to become the head coach for Masu Basket….in which he did.

This same year Masu won the U16 1st division where Thompson also coached the team in an invitational tournament held in Finland where they won a gold medal with the team also setting a tournament record by remaining undefeated throughout the season.

That year, Thompson played and coached for the same basketball club. He played 3 seasons and coached for 4 seasons.

Clubs in Finland are a big deal with teams starting as young as U10 straight to men’s professional level league with the biggest club in Finland having over 1500 players.

Officiating:

Thompson also dabbled in Officiating throughout his extended career. He stepped away from coaching for a while to become a professional referee. Thompson currently holds a level 1 certificate which allows him to referee in the Women’s 1st division which is televised; Men 2nd division and all national and U19 league games.

Thompson said, “he has enjoyed refereeing so far because it has allowed him to travel all over Europe and officiate various tournaments in places such as Sweden, Hungry, Spain and Norway.

After Thompson stopped playing in the men’s 2nd division he then transferred to another club NMKY to play in a higher league in the Men’s 35 Senior National league where he and his team finished 5th the very first season.

Next season, Thompson will be playing in the Senior league once again and also tournaments around Finland. The winners of the Senior national league will go on to represent Finland in the FIMBA world championship.

Local Teams:

Thompson has shared his talents with several local teams in the Men’s National league throughout the years. Most notably

The Island Pharmacy Huskies where he has won a championship with the Huskies being the first team in Cayman to go through the entire season undefeated. Thompson also represented local teams CNB; Coconut Car Rental (championship); Harlem Bulls; Police (championship)
DHL Wolverines (championship) and Shaolin Warriors.

Islands Games:

The 6’3 center also represented the Cayman Islands at 4 NatWest Island Games in Gotland, Sweeden where Cayman won Silver; Guernsey where Cayman won Silver once again; Aland and Isle of Wight.

Caricom/CBC Games:

Thompson also led the Cayman Islands to 5th place out of 13 Caribbean countries in the 1999 Junior Caricom Basketball tournament held in Jamaica.

RBMF:

Thompson also founded the Rodney Bodden Memorial Foundation in 2006 in which he organizes a weekend of fun basketball competition in the Cayman Islands in honour of his former National teammate who passed away in 1998. It started as a one day 3 on 3 tournament and evolved into a 3 day weekend which now includes an all star night and 3 point shootout.

Thompson now resides in Finland where he continues to play and give back to the sport he loves ever so passionately.