SPORTS SECTION E
NFL
Elliott, Page 7
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017
Tennis ace Kerrie Cartwright gets ATP ranking By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net lthough she didn’t make it to another final, Kerrie Cartwright wrapped up her two tournaments in Colombia by getting an Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) women’s ranking. Playing in her second straight tournament, this time in Cucuta, Cartwright got ousted in the second round of the women’s singles, losing 7-5, 6-1 to American Anastasia Nefedova - the No.3 seed. And her American doubles partner Kariann Pierre-Louis, the No.8 seed, suffered a 6-2, 6-3 loss to Maria Camilia Osorio Serrano of Colombia in the second round as well. Also at the ITF Women’s Circuit, Cartwright and PierreLouis got eliminated by the team
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of Safia Munera Sanchez from Colombia and Noella Zeballos of Bolivia. The final score was 7-6 (3), 0-6 (10-6). The week before, Cartwright played in Pereira where she got knocked out in the second round, losing 1-6, 6-2, 6-3, while PierreLouis lost 6-0, 6-2 to No.5 seed Emily Appleton of Great Britain. Cartwright, 25, and PierreLouis, 18, got to the final in doubles, but lost 7-5, 2-6 (10-7) to Emily Appleton of Great Britain and Maria Fernander Herazo Gonzalez of Colombia. “Overall, both tournaments were really, really good,” Cartwright told The Tribune. “I thought it was a great decision for me to come here because I got my world rankings so I will be ranked in the world and not just nationally. “So that’s a big step for me getting into more tournaments. It takes three tournaments where
KERRIE CARTWRIGHT you earn points to get a ranking and this last tournament, I got another point to get my ranking.”
The ATP releases its rankings every two weeks so Cartwright will have to wait and see where she is pegged on the new list. But she admitted that she’s excited just to get on the list. “It’s definitely an obstacle to overcome as a female,” Cartwright said about her journey to get to this stage in her career. “It normally takes a long time to get your ranking. “You could do very well in one tournament, like I did in France where I made quarter-finals, but I played five or six tournaments and I didn’t win a match so it couldn’t go towards my ranking. But it’s good that I am finally going to get my ranking.” With the ranking, Cartwright said she will be able to get directly into the main draw of some of the tournaments like Pierre-Louis and not have to work her way through the qualifying rounds. In the meantime, Cartwright said she was hoping that she
and Pierre-Louis would have advanced further in doubles, but she said the two tournaments they played in Colombia have really boosted their confidence. Cartwright will return to the United States to continue her training. She’s contemplating going to Manta, Ecuador to compete in her next tournament November 27 to December 3. “If I don’t get in to play in that tournament, then I will continue to train before I come home to play in the Bahamas Nationals in December,” said Cartwright of the Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association’s Annual Giorgio Baldacci Open. The BLTA is scheduled to hold the Giorgio Baldacci Open from December 18 at the National Tennis Centre. The open will serve as the trials for both the Fed Cup for women and the Davis Cup for men.
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High Flyers, Mingoes in tonight’s double header IN the New Providence Basketball Association (NPBA) tonight, the Breezes High Flyers are scheduled to play Elite Basketball Club in the men’s division II opener at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium. And the men’s division one feature contest will showcase the University of the Bahamas Mingoes against the Island Game Pros. On Wednesday night, the PJ Stingers and Resistance were winners of the double header at the AF Adderley Gymnasium. The Stingers won their second straight game with a 106-99 decision over the Pirates in the men’s division one play. The Resistance got by the Triple K Stampers 86-83 in the division II encounter. Stingers 106, Pirates 99 Salathiel Dean, in 27 minutes and 42 seconds, had 22 points with 13 rebounds, seven assists and three blocked shots to lead a balanced scoring attack for PJ’s. Devon Ferguson scored 16 points with three rebounds and three steals, Batchlette LaFleur also had 16 points with three rebounds, three steals and two assists, Mario Pickstock had 10 points with three assists and two steals, Henry Rolle had nine points and four rebounds, Kendrick Curry had seven points and three assists and Horris McKenzie added six points. In a losing effort, Scottie Farrington poured in a game high 22 points with 12 rebounds and three assists in 33:02 to pace the losers. Dominique Fernader had 20 points, eight rebounds and three assists, Jerone Smith had 15 points and four rebounds, Kronoff Dean had 11 points, eight assists and three rebounds and Tevin Hudson added 10 points and four rebounds.
DOUBLE HEADER: The Breezes High Flyers are scheduled to play Elite Basketball Club in the men’s division II opener tonight at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium. The men’s division one feature contest will showcase University of the Bahamas Mingoes against the Island Game Pros. Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff
BLUE WAVES SET TO HOST INAUGURAL SPRINT INVITE ON SATURDAY MONTHS after it travelled to Florida to compete in its first international meet, the Blue Waves Swim Club is all set to host its inaugural local sprint invitational at the Betty Kelly Kenning national swim complex on Saturday. Blue Waves Swim Club head coach Dellan Brown said he is looking forward to an exciting day of swimming. “We expect our swimmers to perform well. They have been putting in the work,” he said. “Of course, they will be going up against some of the best swimmers of the island, so there will be lots of exciting competition. “Some of them will be swimming competitively for the first time. We’re excited to see what kind of times they will produce. We’re also happy to be getting our club’s name out there. We’ve been participating in swim meets for the past year, but as you know, this is our first major swim invitational.” Brown noted that club members also picked up some experience when it competed in the Jupiter Dragons Invitational Meet in Florida in April. He said this is an opportunity for swimmers to improve on their performances. Swimmers will compete in the 400m free, 200m free, breaststroke and IM, 100m breaststroke, freestyle, and backstroke, 50 m butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. Races will kick off at 9am. Blue Waves Swim Club president Cecil
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Bahamians look to have strong sophomore seasons on court By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net BAHAMIAN players at the junior college level are looking to have strong sophomore seasons and position themselves for an opportunity to eventually transfer to an NCAA programme. Sebastian Gray of the Northern Oklahoma-Enid Jets and Daejour Adderley of the San JacintoCentral Ravens recently opened their seasons with their respective programmes. Gray is one of just five sophomores and is the second leading scorer of all returning players on this year’s squad. He dropped a season high 25 points in Wednesday night’s 75-70 loss on the road against Coffeyville. In 35 minutes, Gray shot 9-18 from the
field, 5-9 from three and added six rebounds. Through three games, the 6’6” wing is averaging 14 points and 5.7 rebounds per game while shooting 42 per cent from the field, 40 per cent from long range and 80 per cent from the free throw line. The Jets will host Bethel JV tonight as they look to regain a .500 record. Last year as a freshman he appeared in 25 games and averaged 11.9 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. He shot 43 per cent from the field, 75 per cent from the free throw line and 33 per cent from three. He reached the 20-point plateau in three games, scored in double figures 16 times and posted six double doubles. Adderley started the first two games of this season for the
SEBASTIAN GRAY Ravens after playing an exclusively reserve role as a freshman. On opening night he scored eight points with four assists and three steals in 26 minutes of an opening day 33 point win over Lone Star College – Kingwood. He followed with another eight
points and two steals in a 78-77 loss to Clarendon. As a freshman he appeared in 29 games and averaged just 2.1 points and 1.3 assists per game. His single game season high for minutes played was just 17. Both players are members of nationally recognised programmes that reached the NJCAA tournament last year. NJCAA Division I men’s basketball is comprised of 16 districts across the country and the champion of each district receives an automatic bid to The Tournament, which is a 24-team, single-elimination championship. Adderley and the Ravens were the top overall seed in the tournament, but were eliminated in the quarter-finals. As the number one seed they received an automatic bye to the second round where
they scored a 115-77 win over Connors State. They followed with the 98-82 upset loss to Northwest Florida State. It was their 21st tournament appearance in school history. San Jac earned the automatic bid to the national tournament after they won the Region XIV championship. Gray and Robert Joseph helped lead the No.23 ranked Jets to an opening round upset win. The Jets scored a 95-90 win over No.10 Southern Idaho Golden Eagles. Gray finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots while Joseph added two points off the bench. In the second round, they were eliminated 82-76 at the hands of the Vinciennes Trailblazers, ranked No.7 in the bracket. Gray finished with seven points and 11 rebounds.