Dream Team’s 2-point barrage sinks BB Girls in 3×3 finale

Dream Team’s Jan Travilla attempts a point-blank shot against BB Girls’ Irish Pagarao in the women’s championship match of the Marianas Mariana Islands Basketball League 3×3 Season 2 tournament last Sunday at the Marianas High School Gymnasium. (Mark Rabago)

Dream Team was a nightmare for BB Girls in their championship match as the former went on to win the women’s division of the Mariana Islands Basketball League 3×3 Season 2 tournament last Sunday at the Marianas High School Gymnasium.

University of Guam varsity player Jan Travilla and dribbling wiz Alliyah Fernandez connected on four from long range apiece as Dream Team wiped the floor clean of BB Girls in the winner-take-all finale, 21-8. The game was so lopsided that the Dream Team-BB Girls match was the only championship decided by the first-to-21 rule and was finished with still 1:21 left on the game clock.

In 3×3, field goals inside the arc are counted as 1 point and those beyond are counted as 2 points.

What made the win more impressive was Dream Team completed the wire-to-wire victory minus former CNMI national women’s team mainstay Lia Rangamar, who was injured early in the game trying to save the ball from going outside on the end line.

Travilla, Fernandez, and cager-turned-weightlifter Antonnette Labusa went on to dedicate the championship to Rangamar, the daughter of CNMI Hall of Fame inductee, Elias.

“This is all for Lia. She played great defense [throughout the tournament and] we wouldn’t have made the finals without her,” said Labusa.

On their strategy in the finals, while Dream Team made a conscious effort to bomb away from the land of plenty, they also made sure to clamp down on BB Girls’ shooters with Freddie Krueger-like ferocity.

“They’re our best 2-point shooters so we try give them the ball a lot,” said Labusa, who played mostly down low with spread-out shooters Travilla and Fernandez fading to the perimeter.

“Our strategy was to shut down their shooters and either force them to pass or take a bad shot,” said Travilla, who’s on Saipan for vacation. “I’m happy to be back. There’s no place like home!”

Fernandez, for her part, thanked MIBL for holding another 3×3 tournament. “There should be more events like this. I feel any kind of basketball tournament will be good because since the pandemic basketball kind of died out. Having it come back like this is really good.”

Travilla paced the champion quartet with 11 points, while Fernandez ably supporter her with 9 points of her own. Labusa provided the muscle inside and added a deuce.

Madi Alegre got hot late to top-score for BB Girls with her 5 points, while Jasmine Phan and Irish Pagarao were limited to 2 and 1 points, respectively. Mikky Kautz completed the four.

IT&E and Cristiano’s served as the “MVP” sponsors of the MIBL 3×3 Season 2. Shirley’s Coffee Shop, Eats Easy, Hong Ye Hardware, The Angry Penne, Latte Built Gym, Hot Deals, and The Game Athletics also supported the event as “All-Star” sponsors.

Results of the 16-and-under s division of the MIBL 3×3 Season 2 tournament will be published in the next issue of the Saipan Tribune. Hole in the Wall won the men’s open finals following a 15-11 victory over Mix Breed also Sunday.