Arizona forward Esmery Martinez earns silver medal with Dominican Republic women’s national team

On Sunday, the Dominican Republic’s women’s basketball team defeated the U.S. Virgin Islands in group play. Arizona forward Esmery Martinez and her Dominican teammates weren’t able to reproduce the result in the gold medal game, falling to the U.S. Virgin Islands 76-72 in the finals on Wednesday. It was the Dominican Republic’s only loss at the Central American and Caribbean Games.

Martinez averaged 15.6 points and 8.8 rebounds over five games, finishing in the top six in both categories over the course of the tournament. She also contributed 1.2 blocks per game, placing fourth among all players in the competition.

Martinez hit 55 percent of her shots from the floor, placing first among those who had at least eight field goal attempts per game. She was good for 61 percent of her 2-point shots (20 of 33) and 45 percent of her 3-pointers (9 of 20). That was first and fifth in the tournament, respectively.

Martinez is Arizona’s only returning starter from last season. She finished third on the team in scoring (10.5 PPG) and first in rebounding (8.6 RPG) last year.