ThePapare Basketball Championship commenced today with the U19 All Island A Division Girls’ match which was held at Good Shepherd Convent basketball court premises. St. Joseph`s Girls’ School who walked into the match as favorites registered their maiden win as the final scoreboard read 76-25.
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The tournament was expected to start off with two matches at two venues; but there was a change of plans as Lyceum International School – Nugegoda and Vishaka Vidyalaya – Colombo withdrew from the tournament due to unavoidable circumstances.
Hence the inaugural match was played between St. Joseph’s Girls’ School – Nugegoda and St. Lawrence Convent – Colombo 06.
St. Joseph’s took on their opponents from the traditional jump ball start itself. It was a nightmare in the defense for the girls from Wellawatte as their opponents went on to score eighteen points in the first ten minutes while St. Lawrence Convent only managed to score eight points.
St. Lawrence Convent – 08 St. Joseph’s Girls’ School – 18
The second quarter was no better as the dominance from the heavyweights continued. St. Lawrence Convent never found the momentum in the offense and the pressure was eventually converted into defense. Chalani Perera together with Ayesha Sandamini did most of the scoring for the Josephian girls.
They went on to score twenty-six points and put the game far out of reach even though there were two-quarters left in the game. Going into lemons, St. Lawrence only managed to add five points to their 1st quarter tally.
Half-Time: St. Lawrence Convent – 13 St. Joseph’s Girls’ School – 44
After a ten-minute break both teams stepped in with different strategies but St. Lawrence Convent were never able to execute them. Continuing the momentum, the Josephian girls kept on swishing the nets from downtown and mid-range jumpers. Scripting a new plot, they eventually transferred the game into a one-sided battle; scoring twelve points for the quarter.
St. Lawrence Convent – 16 St. Joseph’s Girls School – 56
The fate of the match remained the same in the final six hundred seconds as St. Joseph’s Girls School ran riot adding another twenty points to the scoreboard. There was nothing much St. Lawrence Convent could do as they only managed to score nine points.
Joesphian girls were in command in every aspect of the game and won the season opener in grand style to top the Group B table.
