Holy Family Convent, Bambalapitiya claimed the National Schools Games Basketball title beating Good Shepherd Convent, Colombo while Gateway College managed to grab 3rd place.
Pre-match quotes
HFC Captain speaking to ThePapare.com, ‘We have been practicing really hard for this tournament, and we have built up all our strengths to play a good final game. We don’t have a specific key player because all our players are very good and we have prepared well for this match’.
GSC Captain speaking to ThePapare.com, ‘We had two national players but now one has left, yet, we have practiced well and we always listen to our coach and follow his advice. We have practiced both our offense and defense well so today we will try to minimize our fouls and play our best’.
Match Report
HFC took first possession of the ball but after a couple of attempts made from both sides to get the first basket, it was GSC who scored first. Throughout the first few minutes, HFC seemed to be having terrible luck as none of their shots seemed to find the net. This was partly because GSC adopted a very good man to man defense. Nirma and Hansini of GSC added 19 points as GSC ended the 1st quarter leading by 5 points. As the game went on, the energized Familians took control of the game, scoring 13 points in the following quarter while GSC was only able to add 2 points. Unlike the previous quarter, GSC missed many of their jump shots and 3 pointers and HFC went into the half-time break leading by 6 points.
Half time score – Holy Family Convent – 27 Good Shepherd Convent – 21
During the third quarter, there was hardly a change in proceedings as HFC continued to dominate both the offensive and defensive aspects of the game. GSC was forced to go on the defense with HFC continuously pushing towards the rim. As the third quarter ended HFC was leading by five points. Coming into the final ten minutes, HFC continued to dominate the rim, while making the maximum use of rebounds. In the last few minutes, HFC moved to a full court press and this helped them increase the deficit even further. HFC was also able to get basket after basket by making clever interceptions and putting through strong long passes. HFC topped the final quarter with 19 points while GSC managed just 9 points.
Full time score- Holy Family Convent – 46 Good Shepherd Convent – 35
The captain HFC speaking to ThePapare.com after the win said, ‘We all worked hard for this victory. Even though there was pressure coming from the opponents we did our job well. We mainly concentrated on post players, 3 points. However, we also had a very good defense. Teamwork was behind our success’.
