10th Indian Ocean Island Games (IOIG), Mauritius July 19-28, 2019 |22 July 2019
Guyra Boniface (with ball) led Seychelles in scoring with 11 points
Women’s basketball
Seychelles humiliated by Reunion in opening match
It was a disastrous start for the Seychelles women’s basketball selection at the 10th Indian Ocean Island Games as they suffered a humiliating 20-73 defeat at the hands of the Reunion selection at the Phoenix Gymnasium on Sunday.
The presence of Designated Minister Macsuzy Mondon, president of the Conseil international des Jeux des îles (CIJ) Antonio Gopal and the chief executive of the National Sports Council Jean Larue was not enough to boost the performance of the Seychelles team who clearly boasted a superior age difference than their opponents who were physically and technically better.
Led by veteran player Simone Malbrook who is playing in her eighth Indian Ocean Island Games (IOIG), Seychelles clearly lacked creativity and energy in their game, while their poor physical condition was a critical element in their downfall.
For yesterday’s match, coach Michel Malbrook started with Sarah Rose, Guyra Boniface, Sherifah Agathine Janna Malbrook and Simone Malbrook as centre.
From the start, it was obvious that Seychelles did not stand a chance against their opponents who leapt into an early 7-1 lead.
Seychelles managed to slow down the match’s tempo to close the gap to 7-4, before allowing Reunion to extend their lead to 11-6 and 13-6.
They managed to score three more points to conclude the first quarter on a 16-6 score.
In the second quarter nothing really changed for Seychelles in terms of organisation and play and this allowed Reunion to extend their lead and midway through the second quarter, they were leading 28-12.
Boniface, who scored all the six points of the first quarter, should be commended for her effort and determination as she kept pushing, both in offence and defence to try and keep Seychelles in the match.
Despite her individual effort, Boniface alone could not prevent the Reunion selection from scoring more points for a 34-16 lead at half-time.
The second half was disaster for Seychelles who managed to score only two points in both the third and fourth quarters compared to Reunion’s 18 and 21 for a final 73-20 score.
Boniface was Seychelles’ top scorer with 11 points, while captain Anne Lebian led the scoring for Reunion with 15 points.
Seychelles’ next match will be against Mayotte tomorrow.
Coach Malbrook’s reaction: “We managed to contain Reunion in the first two quarters and the score at halftime was not that far apart. The main thing is we need to work on our offence. The Reunion team travel a lot and the players get a lot of exposure and experience. As for us, we travel every four years and as you could see, the women’s national team had not been in action since the last IOIG in 2015.
“The only outing we had was the training camp in South Africa prior to the Games. We are taking our first match as an opportunity to give our younger players some experience and this could help them in our next match. As for the low scoring in the second half, I would say it has something to do with officiating since the officiating is different from what we are used to in Seychelles. As for tomorrow’s match, we will need to change our tactics and we will be all out to try and book a place in the semifinal.”
The Seychelles team: Janna Malbrook, Simone Malbrook, Samia Asba, Guyra Boniface, Sherifah Agathine, Sarah Rose, Beguitta Fontaine, Magdeline Julienne, Solange François, Michelle Ah-Kong, Tasha Barbe and Myra Solin.
Coach: Michel Malbrook, assistant coach: Tony Juliette.
Text and photo Roland Duval in Mauritius