ThePapare basketball tournament kicked off again with the girl’s second semi-finals match. Holy Family Convent had already sealed their spot in the finals. Gateway College Colombo and St. Joseph’s Girls School were to battle it out for the remaining spot.
Pre-Match Quotes
St. Joseph’s Girl’s Coach: “We’re aiming to win the entire tournament. Our players have been playing well so far and need to maintain the same momentum. Over the past few weeks we’ve both mentally and physically prepared for this tournament and hopefully, we’ll be able to take the championship home.”
Gateway College Coach: “We managed to come this far as a new team in this division so we’re going to give it our best and try to move forward. We’ll be focusing on getting our basics right today to win this match.”
Match Report
Gateway College got first possession of the ball and converted it successfully to a shooting opportunity to score first. The St. Joseph’s players immediately moved to a tight man to man defence to stop the Gateway offensive attack. St. Joseph’s managed to keep control of the game during the first quarter although Gateway wasn’t far behind, moving the ball between all the players well enough to trail only by 2 points at the end of the first quarter.
First-Quarter: Gateway College- 10 St. Joseph’s Girls School- 12
The St. Joseph’s defence only got tighter as the game progressed as they moved up to an aggressive defence when necessary to steal the ball from their opponent’s dribble causing a lot of turnovers. Coupled with this St. Joseph’s had good long-range shooters that got in a couple shots from downtown allowing them to maintain their marginal lead. Although the Gateway players found it difficult to secure offensive rebounds they managed to get a few good passes to Sandali who did most of the heavy shooting for their team and didn’t allow St. Joseph’s to increase the deficit.
Half-time: Gateway College- 18 St. Joseph’s Girls School- 20
During the second half of the game the St. Joseph’s players moved up to a half-court press to add more pressure on the Gateway offense and cause turnovers. The Gateway College point guard Kiara set up the offensive plays well although the lack of rebounds hindered their ability to turn the tables on St. Joseph’s as they began to fall behind and trailed by 9 points at the end of the third quarter.
Third-Quarter: Gateway College- 22 St. Joseph’s Girls School- 31
St. Joseph’s maintained their tight defence not giving any room for the Gateway players to take a shot forcing Gateway to trail behind as they continued to increase the deficit. Although St. Joseph’s players lost track of the foul count the deficit had grown too large for Gateway to reduce from mere free shots alone giving the short time they had left on the clock. Gateway College ran out of time and luck as they lost the semi-final match to St. Joseph’s Girl’s School.
Full-time: Gateway College- 31 St. Joseph’s Girls School- 50
Speaking to the coach of the St. Joseph’s team she had this to say after their victory: “We focused a lot on our defence during the game especially during the final quarter where we employed a more aggressive defence which is where we secured victory by keeping their scoring to a minimum.”
