The DR women whipped Mexico but the DR men fell to a tough Cuban team in yesterday’s play in the Sixteenth Central American and Caribbean Basketball Tournament ("Centro-basket 1999"). The Tournament is being held in La Havana, Cuba. The Dominican women’s national selection team beat Mexico 65-51 on the basis of a very strong second half, led in scoring by center María Celestino with 13 points. The women must play Puerto Rico today at 5 pm. They must beat PR in order to win a medal in Centro-Basket and get an automatic pass into this year’s PanAm Games in Winnipeg. The Dominican team is optimistic about getting a victory over PR because the Mexicans routed PR on Monday by 20 points. The Cuban 70-66 victory over the DR’s male national selection team came in the last moments. The Cubans had dominated the first half, but the Dominicans closed the gap and temporarily took the lead in the second. After that it was neck-and-neck until four free-throws late in the game clinched the victory for the Cubans. The shooting star for the DR last night was Jaime Peterson with 22 points. The Dominicans, No.2 in Group A, now face PR, No. 1 in Group B, in the semi-finals on Saturday night. The winner plays in the final game on Sunday, whose victor gets an automatic pass to the PanAm Games in Winnipeg. [The DR men have already qualified for the Pre-Olympic Tournament to be held in San Juan. In July.]
