CNMI women’s cage team named

The CNMI National Women’s Basketball Team that will represent the islands in next month’s 6th Micronesian Games was announced yesterday

CNMI head coach Elias Rangamar yesterday named Connie Camacho, Pearl Palacios, Chelsea Ruluked, Dena Ngirchongor, Arcy Moncrief, Tanya Cabrera, Vanessa Diaz, Liamwar Rangamar, Eva Ito, Beverly Igitol, Emy Oiterong, and Nicole Lebria to the team.

He also disclosed that his coaching staff would include Abong Camacho and Jose Tumaquip as assistant coaches, and Raquel Ogumoro as statistician.

The CNMI women’s team has had success in the past after winning bronze in the past two Micronesian Basketball Tournaments in Palau in 2003 and in Guam in 2004.

Returning members include Igitol, Camacho, Ngirchongor, Oiterong, Diaz, and Cabrera.

“We have six girls from the past two MBTs, so that’s going to serve as a plus for us because they have experience,” coach Rangamar said during an interview yesterday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

Rangamar explained that although he does not know the competition the girls will be facing, he is confident with the team he has.

“I don’t want to sound too optimistic, but I really think we have a chance on getting into the gold medal round. I am disappointed that Guam is not going to come, but Palau is coming so they’re the team to beat.”

“I can’t really say I know how well we’ll do because I don’t know the other teams…we’ll have to wait until they come for us to do some scouting, but I am confident that we’ll be able to medal,” he added.

Rangamar said he believes the strength of his team is their perimeter play.

“We have a good core of players on the perimeter, but even though we’re strong on the guard position, I still think we’re going to be a balanced team inside and out,” he said.

Physically, Rangamar said his girls “still have work to do” but are still in decent shape.

He explained that preparations for the Micro Games would have been better with the girls facing competition in real games. However, the Women’s Basketball League was never really able to materialize as several other teams that registered never committed.

With that, Rangamar has arranged scrimmage matches with the Garapan Rollers Basketball Team every weekend.

“It’s really hard to say how these girls are gelling if we don’t have competition,” he said. “I would love to have a league so we cam simulate the real game situations and environment.”

He said his main focus at the earlier stages of the training was focusing on fundamental skills.

“We’ve been working a lot on the fundamentals. I didn’t want to sacrifice getting right into games and the fundamentals won’t be there. I wanted to work on the fundamentals, understanding of the game, and footwork.”