Jamaica's women fall to Dom Rep at CAC

MAYAGUEZ, Puerto Rico, CMC:

Jamaica's women were upset by the Dominican Republic as they registered their first loss of the preliminary round of the Central American and Caribbean Games here Monday night.

Fresh from their silver-medal performance at CentroBasket, Jamaica crashed to a 72-62 loss at the Arquelio Torres Ramirez Coliseum.

They had beaten the Dominican Republic girls 79-76 at the same venue during the recently concluded CentroBasket tournament.

Already qualified for the FIBA Americas 2011, Jamaica were not allowed to rest on their laurels and trailed in all quarters 15-21, 28-37 and 46-54.

The dependable Simone Edwards led with 19 points and 15 rebounds while Vanessa Gidden came off the bench to also score 19 points and haul in 10 rebounds. Nicole Louden added 17 and eight assists in the losing effort.

Edwards controlled the defensive boards where she snared 14 of her 15 rebounds and Gidden helped with six of her ten in defence for her double-double.

For the Dominican Republic, Carmen Guzman led all scorers with 29 points while Sugeiry Monsac supported with 14. Charlenny Frias chipped in with 10 points and five assists.

The Jamaicans now have a win and a loss from their two games so far after they prevailed over Guatemala 63-56 in their opening encounter on Sunday.

Jamaica will next face Mexico today.