CIS Colombo met Lyceum Nugegoda at the finals of girls’ Under 19 Inter International Basketball Championships.
At the girls’ finals CIS Colombo took on Lyceum Nugegoda in a ferocious and ding-dong battle that could have gone either way. The first quarter was pretty tight for both teams. Sharnaya Jayakodi from Lyceum scoring in the last basket for the first quarter pushed the scores a bit higher for them reaching 12 -10 by the end. The second quarter saw a rise in Lyceum’s performance, adding another 2 point gap towards the end to a half time score of 29 to 25.
The game was calm and more focused till the end of the second quarter with only 1 team foul each reported from C.I.S. as well as Lyceum Nugegoda. This atmosphere drastically changed as C.I.S. started picking up and turning the game in their favor. The secret behind the successful turnover of C.I.S. was their team effort. While Sharnaya Jayakodi at number 9 from Lyceum College Nugegoda continued to out shine, Sinali Illange, Tyra De Silva and Shelle Perera were on the offense together. Most fortunately for CIS Colombo, four free throws came in handy in the last minute of the second quarter. Yet they were 4 points behind the overall score.
Masaki Hatta playing at number 9 for CIS Colombo reached her highest performance in the third quarter. Scoring the only three pointers, Masaki solely added 7 points within the third quarter. With her intense playing she was thrown off balance knocking her knee towards the end of the second quarter which slowed CIS Colombo’s performance towards the end. Still, for the first time in the game CIS was leading Nugegoda. End of the third quarter CIS was 45 to Lyceum 44.
Entering the final quarter both teams had an almost equal chance. Masaki, for CIS also was back in the game after first-aid treatment. However, Lyceum seemed tensed and tired resulting many fouls. Compared to the only free throw CIS donated Lyceum gave in 5 points. With CIS already leading the play it worsend the situation for Lyceum. Also Tyra De Silva was able to make the maximum out of the free throws only missing one out of the six she was awarded. She was also highest individual scorer of the whole tournament, with an impressive 33 points in the final. The drop was not recoverable for Lyceum. As the game came to an end the final score of the game was 68 to 55. CIS has successfully added 13 points to the overall score winning the girls’ Under 19 Inter International Championships.
As CIS Colombo and Lyceum Nugegoda qualified as champions and runners up, the battle between British School and Lyceum Wattala settled the third place of the tournament. It was an easy win for Lyceum Wattala. Adding pressure on British School Colombo from the start, Lyceum Wattala was leading by 8 points in the first quarter itself. Ravishani Amartunga for Lyceum was the highest scorer of the team who was consistent in adding pressure on the game. By the end of the game Lyceum reached 50 while British School Colombo reached only 32 points.
Awarding the best performances of the tournament, Misaki Hatta of CIS (Colombo) was crowned as the best defender. Her struggle to score was specially noted after the injury,
