The first match of the Inter-International Basketball Championship (Girls Category) was worked off yesterday between Colombo International School and Gateway College, Colombo. The CISC girls dominated the game in every aspect and tasted sweet victory as the final scoreboard read 32-13.
Turning Point
The CISC girls lead the game from the blow of the whistle for the jump ball. The factor that differentiated the sides was that CISC was able to keep the momentum of the game in their favour throughout. They did step into the game as favorites with tons of experience under their belts and it did come in handy at full time.
Opting for a man-to-man defense from the start of play they switched strategies into a full court trap during the last few minutes of the game. They were on top of the cards in rebounds as Lihasha White made no mistake in getting at the air ball and converting it to another scoring opportunity.
Since the CISC defense was tight, the girls from Gateway did find it hard to make a move in the offensive plays. The pressure that was transferred right back into the defense created many loopholes through which their counter-parts penetrated their line.
CISC did hold sway throughout the game and it was not much of an ask for them to find perfect closure as they did play an excellent game of basketball.
Stats don’t lie
CISC scored seven points in the maiden quarter while the Gateway lasses only managed to score two points. Continuing the good form into the second quarter CISC managed six points, which helped them extend their lead in the game by halftime. They were matched by the Gateway girls as they too did score six points but it was ultimately just too much.
Coming into the third quarter CISC scored another seven points and in reply Gateway only managed to score two. With a significant psychological advantage in having points on the board they kept on dominating the offensive plays as they scored twelve points in the final six hundred seconds whereas Gateway only managed to score three.
Bottom Line
The Gateway College outfit, as a whole, did not seem to have a clear plan in neither their offense nor defense. Even though they did make a comeback into the game during the second quarter scoring six points, equaling their counter-parts, they could not continue their consistency in either of the two departments.
Though they were doing miserably in their offense, they could have tightened the screws in defense to stop the leakage in points from that end. That may have helped them ease the pressure and make a step back into the game.
Full time – Colombo International School – 32 Gateway College, Colombo – 13
ThePapare.com player of the match – Lihasha White (Colombo International School)
