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). |