PORT MORESBY — The American Samoa Women’s Basketball team took silver in XV Pacific Games competition in Papua New Guinea, after they were defeated by the Fijian team 71-65 points, in a tough battle last Saturday night at the Power Dome Arena.

Fiji showed excellent performances last week, and winning gold for this year’s Pacific Games shows a great improvement for their team, after they were eliminated in the semifinals at the 14th Pacific Games in New Caledonia.

It was a tough game.

American Samoa’s offense in the beginning of the match was so good and powerful, it forced the Fijian side to turn over the ball and give the American Samoa team chances to score points.

Destiny King and Rheina Ale were both on fire for American Samoa’s team during the first two quarters of the match, which motivated other members of the team to step up their game.

After leading Fiji 23-18 in the first quarter of the match, American Samoa’s team trailed in the second quarter by 42-33.

Fiji looked sharp and active during the third and the fourth quarters, putting pressure on American Samoa’s offense which were now forced into making turnovers, and allowing the Fijian team to add more points on the score board.

Team American Samoa supporters on the right side of the Power Dome Arena never gave up with their cheers and support for their team, even though the score board told a different story when Fiji led 62-45 at the end of the third quarter. It did not stop the team’s fans from shouting out to the players to keep moving and keep adding points.

Ale and King never gave up with their great performance throughout the whole match. They continued to play the game hard and kept scoring points for American Samoa, while Fiji team that came into the game undefeated, kept the pressure on — answering with more points on the board.

After Ale scored 16 points and King 12 points in the first half of the match, where they both put pressure on the Fijian defense. During the last two quarters, they tried to minimize Fiji’s leading score, but the unbeaten Fijian team just kept nailing the shots.

Led by the American Samoa’s Lt. Governor Lemanu Peleti Mauga, Team American Samoa supporters were all on their feet clapping their hands and singing the Samoan song “Ua fa’afetai, ua fa’afetai ua malie mata e vaai,” when they saw the clock moving down to zero.

Lemanu was in tears when he welcomed the team after they received their silver medal, and was joined by the whole of Team American Samoa.

In his brief message to the team, Lemanu thanked them for putting the name of American Samoa on top, and winning the silver medal at this year’s Pacific Games.

“I thank you all for the great performance that you guys did tonight (which was last Saturday night), which makes us all happy. You did a great job and you guys played the game so good, I congratulate you for winning the silver medal for American Samoa.

After his brief message to the team, Lemanu stepped forward and put up his hand, and everyone joined him by putting up their hands into the air, and together they said, “Amerika — Samoa”.

Speaking to Samoa News after the match, King said that they fought hard during the match to win gold, but Fiji’s team was just too good to beat.

“We made a lot of turnovers during the game and that cost us the match. We tried to be at our best, showing our skills and playing the game, but Fiji on the other hand did not allow us to go on our own; they managed to control the game from the 2nd quarter until the final second,” said King.

King congratulated the winning team for stepping up, and never giving up during the whole match.

“Fiji was a great team. They’ve got all the potential and talent, and they did not give up after they were struggling in the 1st quarter. But they continued to play their game and were able to force us to do turnovers during the match,” said King.

After defeating the mighty PNG side on Friday, during the first semifinal, King said their team had faith that they could deliver a tough battle against Fiji in the final game. But things were turned around when their side made so many turnovers and missed many free throws during the last two quarters of the match.

“I’m happy that the game is over and I thank everyone for supporting us and encouraging us to be at our best. We did our best and I thank the team for a job well done. Winning a silver medal is not something small, but gold was the aim,” said King.

The captain for the gold medalist team Valeria Nainima told Samoa News how great she felt when they won the gold medal this year.

“Winning gold for this year’s Pacific Games was the main goal for our team. American Samoa’s team was too strong during the 1st quarter of the match, but we managed to control the game, and we managed to came up with the win,” said Nainima.

“I want to congratulate the American Samoa team for a great match and their great performance. They had a good strategy. They started on fire from the beginning of the match, and they forced us to be on guard and be very aggressive, but we were able to come back into the game and control it until the end of the match,” Nainima said with a smile on her face.

“I believe our family and friends back home are really happy with our performance tonight (Saturday night), and we want to dedicate this gold medal to all our parents back home, who put up a lot for us since the beginning of our journey up until this moment. We’re looking forward to win another gold medal in the next Pacific Games in Tonga,” Nainima concluded.

Tahiti women’s basketball team won the bronze medal.

MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM

For the men’s basketball team, a chance to compete for the bronze medal ended on Thursday night when they were defeated in a well performed game with Tahiti — the heartbreaker ended with a final score of 78-77.

American Samoa was one of ten countries that were competing in men’s basketball for the Pacific Games. They were all in the top six together with Papua New Guinea, Guam, Tahiti, Samoa and Fiji, while the defending champion from the XIV Pacific Games, New Caledonia dropped to top ten.

After defeating American Samoa, Tahiti move on and played against Guam for the first semifinal, where they were unable to show their usual outstanding performance. Guam outscored them in a one sided match with the score of 78-51.

In the other semifinal, Fiji defeated PNG and moved on to the final against Guam.

In the final, Guam broke their Pacific Games losing streak by defeating Fiji 78-61 to win gold, their first in men’s basketball in the Pacific Game’s history. Fiji took silver while Tahiti won bronze.

XV PACIFIC GAMES HIGHLIGHTS