St. Joseph's Girls clinch cager title

Angu Rajendran

Amidst a, basketball-loving crowd, the finals of the All Island 'A' division Under 19 girls basketball tournament was played at the Sugathadasa Stadium on Saturday night when St. Joseph's Girls School, Nugegoda beat Sirimavo Bandaranaike Vidyalaya 61/47.

The first basket was scored by the Sirimavo girls and every basket after that met with thundering applause - whichever team scored. Trained by national coach Ajit Kuruppu, the St. Joseph's Girls played as a cohesive unit while Sirimavo played a very lack-lustre game especially as their star player Erandhi Rajapakse did not play due to injury.

St. Joseph's towering captain Solanji Gunawijaya was in top form defending all the under the basket shots and collecting all the rebounds while the Sirimavo players missed too many long shots. The score at half time was 29/22 in favour of St. Joseph's Girls' School.

The second twenty minutes saw the Josephians shoot three pointers freely and accurately from all around the D. This sudden outbreak of three pointers by the St Joseph's team(6 in a row) in the third quarter clinched the game for them. All the Josephian girls shot accurately while Solanji shot from under the basket also, keeping the lead to the end of the game.

The St. Joseph's girls proved that a simple, zone defense till the end and shooting practice, are all that it takes to win a game.

St. Joseph's Girls School (61) - Solanji (23), Dewni (12) and Sanduni (11)

Sirimavo Bandaranaike Vidyalaya (47) - Buddhika (12), Thushani (11), Kalpaksha (10).

The Most Valuable Player - Solanji Gunawijaya (St. Joseph's), Best Offensive Player - Dewni Kaushalya (St. Joseph's) and Best Defensive Player - Buddhika Wijeyanayake (Sirimavo Bandaranaike).