The all island U19 girls’ A division of ThePapare Basketball Championship continued today at the Good shepherd convent Kotahena with the following matches for the day: Lyceum International School Wattala facing off against St. Joseph’s Girls’ School Nugegoda and hosts Good Shepherd convent playing against St. Lawrence Convent.
Lyceum Wattala v St Joseph’s Girls School –
The first match kicked off with Lyceum gaining possession of the ball from the jump ball and scoring the first point through a shooting foul as they struggled to get through the SJGS defense. Both teams were unable to take use of the turnovers as the first quarter ended with a close score of 8 to 8.
Photo Album – Lyceum International School Wattala vs St.Joseph Girls School
First Quarter: Lyceum Wattala – 8 St. Joseph’s Girl’s School Nugegoda – 8
The second quarter started off with SJGS scoring 3 points from downtown and they continued in this momentum to increase their lead to 9 points in the first few minutes of the quarter with a score of 17 to 8 in the first 5 minutes of the 2nd quarter. Lyceum was unable to penetrate the SJGS defense only scoring 2 points in the entire quarter having a score of 10 to 23 at the end of the first half.
Second Quarter: Lyceum Wattala – 10 St. Joseph’s Girl’s School Nugegoda 23
The second half was a strong start for Lyceum scoring first and opting for a full court press defense against the girls from Nugegoda. This strategy paid off well as they reduced the lead to 9 points but could not take control of the match as the SJGS defense was too strong as Lyceum failed to get the crucial rebounds.
Third Quarter: Lyceum Wattala – 23 St. Joseph’s Girl’s School Nugegoda 32
The fourth quarter was when the Lyceum defense really worked and took great use of the turnovers as they were able to reduce the lead to just 5 points by scoring quite a few shots from downtown. The Lyceum defense didn’t allow their opponents to score more than 6 points as they corrected their mistakes from the previous quarters and obtained the rebound more often. They lost a slim margin of 5 points.
Fourth Quarter: Lyceum Wattala – 33 St. Joseph’s Girl’s School Nugegoda 38.
The coach of the winning team of St. Joseph’s Girl’s School Nugegoda speaking to ThePapare said “I don’t believe that my team performed to the best of their abilities as there were a few mistakes on the court but we did somehow manage to escape the opponent’s defense and was able to win the match. We have a very young team this year but I believe they have what it takes to win this tournament.”
Good Shepherd Convent v St Lawrence Convent –
The second match was between Good Shepherd Convent vs St. Lawrence Convent with former playing hosts. They were able to take possession of the ball from the jump ball and had a good start scoring a shot from downtown in the first few minutes and continued to dominate the game in the first quarter obtaining a lead of 15 points as their defense didn’t allow the opponents to score more than 2 points in the entire quarter.
Photo Album – St.Lawrence Convent vs Good Shepherd Convent
First Quarter: Good Shepherd Convent Kotahena – 17 St. Lawrence Convent 2
The next quarter didn’t prove to be any better for the girls from St. Lawrence as they were only able to score 3 points whilst their opponents were more eager to gain the rebounds and take best use of the turnovers scoring 15 points in the 2nd quarter increasing their lead further. The hosts clearly had the home ground advantage at the end of the first half with a lead of 25 points.
Second Quarter: Good Shepherd Convent Kotahena – 29 St. Lawrence Convent – 5
In the second half St. Lawrence finally settled into the game and had an effective zone defense only allowing the hosts to score 6 points throughout the quarter and outscoring them with 10 points for the quarter minimizing the lead by 4 points.
Third Quarter: Good Shepherd Convent Kotahena – 35 St. Lawrence Convent 15
The tables were turned in the final quarter as the girls from Good Shepherds took control of the game scoring 11 points and securing their victory as the girls from St. Lawrence struggled to gain possession of the ball being able to only score 4 points in the quarter. It seemed like an easy victory for the home team as they won with a lead of 30 points.
Fourth Quarter: Good Shepherd Convent Kotahena – 49 St. Lawrence Convent – 19
The coach of the Good Shepherd team had this to say speaking to ThePapare after winning the match: “Although we won this match we made a few mistakes in the deciding match which we hope to fix by the semi finals and the opponents we are yet to face such as Holy Family Convent pose a serious threat to us becoming the champions of ThePapare Basketball Champions 2016”
