ThePapare Basketball Championship Girls’ Final was held today at the Air Force Management Health Center Basketball courts. St. Joseph’s Girls’ School Nugegoda(SJGS) and Holy Family Convent, Bambalapitiya (HFC), joint champions from last year, met this year too but this time St. Joseph’s came out on top to be crowned champs.

SJGS started the game quite strongly thanks to the in-form National youth player H.K Thisari as she opened the scoring for SJGS. Tight defense and getting easy steals on the defensive end enabled them to convert more points to take an early lead.

Photos : St.Joseph’s Girls’ School v Holy Family Convent | ThePapare Basketball – Girls Finals

HFC did struggle in the beginning of the game due to the fast tempo game played by SJGS and trailed by 10 points at the end of the 1st quarter.

H.K Thisari continue to impact the offense of SJGS, scoring more points by penetrating through the defense of the opposition. Moreover, Nihari Perera, another national youth player in their line-up, continued to score easy baskets and second chance points to keep the momentum in their favor to increase the lead to double digits

HFC’s key player Sandrene David did struggle throughout the 1st half not being able to find her range. Nevertheless, Serena Warnaluka, with couple of mid rangers and lay ups, kept HFC alive at the end of the 1st half.

Half time: St. Joseph’s Girls’ School Nugegoda 35 – 22 Holy Family Convent, Bambalapitiya

Sandrene David finally found her form and scored six points consecutively to cut the lead, firing a couple of shots from behind the arc. She was starting to gain momentum  and this in turn boosted the confidence of her teammates.

Nevertheless, SJGS quickly swung back the momentum in their favour thanks to Nihari Perera who scored 8 unanswered points for SJGS to keep the lead at double digits at the end of the 3rd quarter.

Into the last moments of the game HFC kept fighting however SJGS managed to run off the clock and were able to come up as champions in this year’s girls’ category by 12 points.

Full time: St. Joseph’s Girls’ School Nugegoda 58 – 46 Holy Family Convent

The head coach of St. Joseph’s Girls’ School Nugegoda speaking to ThePapare.com said “It was a fairly tough game but we had better players and the game plan went accordingly. I didn’t want to tire out the players and told them to play at a slower pace after the 2nd quarter. Our defense was really good and during the last moments we just ran off the clock thus enabling us to come up with a victory.”

Top Scorers:

  • H.K. Thisari – 24 points
  • Sandrene David – 15 points

Individual Awards

  • Best Defensive Player – H.K Thisari
  • Best Offensive Player – Sandrene David
  • Most Valuable Player – Rashmi Tanya Perera

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