SPORTS SECTION E
Monday, November 17, 2025
Ladies’ national basketball team qualifies for Centrobasket By BRENT STUBBS Chief Sports Editor bstubbs@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas women’s national basketball team gave it another gallant effort but suffered a 105-81 loss yesterday to the US Virgin Islands in the FIBA Caribbean Women’s Championships in Georgetown, Guyana. While USVI ended the tournament undefeated at 4-0 with eight points for the top spot, The Bahamas dropped to third place at 2-2 with six points to qualify for next year’s Centrobasket Women’s Championship. Speaking from the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall in Georgetown, Guyana following the loss to the USVI, Bahamas’ head coach Donillo ‘Donnie’ Culmer said he was proud
of the team because they accomplished their mission. “We came here to qualify, so that’s the main thing,” said Culmer, who was assisted by Jaraun ‘Kino’ Burrows, Diasti Delancy and Anthony Swaby. “With what we had, that was what we went with. These were basically the girls who came out and so we really didn’t have to cut the team.” Culmer, however, said for next year, the Bahamas Basketball Federation will have to get some of the country’s bigger players to fill the void they were missing in the frontcourt. “Our guards were super. They played excellently, but our forwards were our weak spots,” he stated. “We just have to look for some bigs.” Based on the way they played, Culmer said
if they didn’t have the issues they encountered getting into Guyana and playing the host team on the opening day, losing 102-75, he felt they could have been at least the second best team in the tournament. After that loss on Wednesday, The Bahamas bounced back to win their next two games, beating Suriname 77-45 on Thursday and taking down Jamaica 88-56 on Friday. The team was off on Saturday before closing play against the USVI yesterday. Lashann Higgs tried her best to keep The Bahamas in the game, but the Virgin Islands was a little too much to handle as they ran a mixture of plays inside and out. Nesbitt was the most consistent player for Team Bahamas, with a game high 37 points with five
rebounds, three assists and as many steals. The Harbour Island native was followed by Valerie Nesbitt, who added 32 points seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. Valencia Demeritte chipped in with six points, while LaTavia Braynen had four points and three rebounds and Latoya Rolle had two points with three rebounds. Anisha George led a balanced scoring attack for the Virgin Islands with 26 points and 21 rebounds. Five other players scored in double figures as they produced one of three games in which a team scored more than 100 points in the tournament. Coach Culmer noted that the game was totally different from the previous three games they played. “They
let us play all tournament and then they changed the rules in this game,” he said. “We just couldn’t make the adjustments. “I don’t want to blame it on the referees, but we just couldn’t contain them. We tried to make some adjustments, but it was a bit too late.” The Virgin Islands took control of the game from the first quarter with a 29-19 advantage and they extended it to 56-44 at the half. The Bahamas turned things around a bit in the third as they were only outscored by two points (21-19) to trail 77-63 going into the fourth. But the Virgin Islands went into another gear with a 28-18 tear in the final period to put the game out of reach.
Hanna strikes gold By BRENT STUBBS Chief Sports Editor bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
FEMALE judoka Karra Hanna made history for The Bahamas Judo Federation with the victory, winning the first senior gold medal on the International Judo Federation world ranking circuit. Competing at the Pan American Montreal Open in Montreal, Canada, Hanna beat out American Jessica Alaynick on Saturday in the women’s +75 kilogram class to put The Bahamas in fourth place on the medal chart behind Canada (four gold and seven bronze), the United States of America (one gold, five silver and two bronze) and Great Britain (one gold, one silver and two bronze) respectively. It was the fifth international medal for Hanna, who thanked God for guiding her steps, thoughts and actions. "I am very impressed with myself seeing that I got an injured finger within the first minute of my match,” Hanna said. "I shed blood, therefore I had to win. I came into this tournament expecting gold. I prayed and trained hard for it. So said, so done." Hanna, 25, previously won a silver at the Barbados Open in 2016, a CARIFTA gold in 2017, a bronze at the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2017 and a gold at the Quebec Open in 2024. But she noted that this one was extra special.
Judoka Karra makes history, wins first senior gold medal on the International Judo Federation world ranking circuit "The competition overall was pretty smooth,” she said. "I met a lot of amazing athletes and was cheered on by many." Travelling with Hanna was her coach Willard McKenzie, who had nothing but praise for her achievement. "It was exhilarating to see all the hard work and effort come to fruition in an immaculate display of top notch judo,” he said. "The dominance Karra demonstrated in her matches garnered significant respect at this competition. "It made me proud as a coach. Most importantly, we learned a lot as we continue to work for future competitions.” McKenzie has only been working with Hanna for about a year, but they were both pleased to see the progress she made in such a short time. “He’s been dedicated with taking the time off from work to travel and be my support,” said Hanna in reference to McKenzie, whom she thanked, along with the support she got from Lennox Patton, JS Johnson, her family, especially her mother Sarah-Ann McKinney, her grandmother Alrina McKinney and her late grandfather Lawrence
JUDOKA Karra Hanna made history for The Bahamas Judo Federation, winning the first senior gold medal on the International Judo Federation world ranking circuit. McKinney Sr and her friends. Hanna, a native of Acklins and who played basketball at HO Nash and RM Bailey, started competing in judo in 2016 under sensei D’Arcy Rahming, who is now the president of the BJF. Rahming joined coach McKenzie in saluting Hanna on her performance.
“I took my first athlete to a senior world ranking judo tournament in 2004,” said Rahming, who travelled as coach then to Rupert Adams. “Twenty-one years later, we stand on top of the podium for the first time at this level. “I am immensely proud of her (Hanna), her coaches and the programme.”
Hanna, who also played and won a championship title in flag football with the Avengers, said her focus is now to compete over the next three years in the hopes of qualifying for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, California. She is expected back in action in December when she competes in the Tokyo Grand Slam Camp.
Valerie Nesbitt has triple-double as Bahamas defeats Jamaica 88-56 NOT only did The Bahamas pull off a mammoth win over its archrival, but Valerie Nesbitt produced a performance to remember. The high scoring guard, who has been a thrill to watch with her flashy passes, posted the tournament’s first triple-double with 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists. She also had six steals in 35 minutes. Valicia Demeritte and Lashann Higgs also impressed, scoring 25 and 23 points, respectively. The trio accounted for 77 per cent of The Bahamas’ offence. Demeritte also had four rebounds, three assists and two steals and Higgs came up with a tournament high nine steals with three assists and two rebounds. Michell Butler helped out with five points and seven rebounds; LaTavia Braynen chipped in with four points and 10 rebounds, Judy Forbes had three points, five rebounds and two steals and Kayla Bien, Taronya Wildgoose and Sha-Londa Neely all ended up with two points. “Jamaica played something like us, so we were prepared for them,” said Culmer of Friday’s big triumph. “That’s the highlight of my coaching career. It was a must win for us and we got the job done. I’m happy with the way the team played.” The Bahamas led from start to finish after taking an early 23-20 margin at the end of the first quarter. They outscored Jamaica 26-16 in the second quarter for a 49-33 advantage at the half. Coming out of the locker room, The Bahamas continued the onslaught with a 18-9 surge in the third quarter and cruised in the fourth with a 21-14 rout to secure their second win in three games. The team, managed by Shakira Farrington, included the following other players Mikayah Tucker, Kayla Bien and Tatyana Lockhart. LaToya Silver was the BBF representative.
Men’s national soccer team suffers 6-0 loss to British Virgin Islands By BRENT STUBBS Chief Sports Editor bstubbs@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas men’s national soccer team closed out play in the first half of the Group D of the inaugural 2025-26 CONCACAF Series over the weekend with a 6-0 loss to the British Virgin Islands. Coming off their 2-1 defeat at the hands of Anguilla in their opener on Wednesday at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex in George Town, Cayman Islands, The Bahamas couldn’t get anything through the goal posts as they returned home with a 0-2 win-loss record. The team, however, will get a chance to redeem itself when they play the second half of the series in March, 2026 against the Cayman Islands at a site yet
to be revealed. Head coach Kevin Davies said it was all about the development of the future generation of players between the ages of 16-17 for Team Bahamas in the new CONCACAF initiative that offers valuable international competition and development opportunities for member nations during the World Cup off-cycle. “It was a tough one, tough one,” said Davies, who was assisted by Andre Roberts. ‘“The team was just a little bit better than us and more organised. They scored a suspect early goal and that changed the dynamics of the game pretty early. Nonetheless, there were just some mistakes that allowed them to score a few more goals.” Despite the loss, Davies said it was a good test to see where the players were and
at the same time give them some exposure. He said they all got another opportunity and so he’s hoping that they will only get better as they prepare for the next round. “They just need to improve on their overall technical skills,” Davies said. “We really didn’t have much time to work with them because the team really just came together about a week ago. “But once they can improve their ball awareness, field technicality and field awareness, we can only get better." Team Bahamas was comprised of Dylan Archer, William Bayles, Michael Butler, Lance Carroll, Omar Chemaly, Camrawn Cox, Oakland Duncan, ReJohn Ene, William Gardiner, Marcel Joseph, Jack Massey, Ricardo McPhee, Jonathan
THE Bahamas men’s national soccer team. Miller, Miguel Thompson, Jean Tilo, Nathan Walker, Brody Wheaton and Vance Wheaton. While they wait to find out where and when they will face the Cayman Islands in March, Davies said it’s his hope that the BFA will keep the nucleus
of the team together and just add one or two more experienced players to help them get over the hump. “We are in our rebuilding stage. The nucleus of this team will be a part of that team,” said Davies about the match next year. “We just need to add a few more
guys who couldn't travel for this tournament.” The team was managed by Larry Minns. Daniel Miller was the medical officer with Carlton Adderley as the equipment manager. The head of delegation was Fred Lunn.