The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools kicked off their 2019 best-of-three basketball championship series last night at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium.

Game one in the junior girls division saw the St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine nip the St John’s Giants 30-29, but St John’s reversed the decision in the senior girls division as they held off SAC 38-31.

And in the junior boys division, the Jordan Prince William Falcons got by the Queen’s College Comets 40-32 before St John’s clinched their senior match-up with a 53-49 victory over Queen’s College.

Game two in all series will be played today, starting with the junior girls at 4pm. If any of the series go to a third and deciding game, they will be played on Monday.

Here’s a summary of the games played yesterday:

Big Red Machine 30

Giants 29

Sammeka Hepburn took over the show down the stretch as she pumped in the final six points for St Augustine’s College junior girls, including the game winning basket to seal the deal.

Hepburn, in leading the defending champions to the opener of the series, finished with a game-high ten points, while Antonicia Moultrie had eight and A’Jani Culmer six in the win for SAC.

Johneisha Nixon and Rhema Collins both produced seven points and Jasmine Roker added five, but it wasn’t enough for St John’s to get the first win under their belt.

Falcons 40

Comets 32

Michael Johnson went on a scoring rampage with 12 of Jordan Prince William junior boys’ 16 points in the third quarter as they came from a 17-14 deficit at the half to surge ahead 30-22 and they never looked back.

Johnson ended up with a game high 18 points, while Devonte Allen had seven and Veron Cleare chipped in with four.

In a losing effort for Queen’s College, Mileeke Pierre paced their attack with 13 points, Ahmad Evans had nine and Leonardo Burrows contributed five.

Giants 38

Big Red Machine 31

St John’s senior girls had a more balanced attack as they got a 1-2-3 punch from Christina Richardson, Calvinique Spence and Michelle Butler to out-last SAC.

Richardson controlled the tempo of the game with nine, Spence had eight and Butler stepped it up in the middle with seven for the Giants.

Rachel Rolle scored a game high 15 points and Jade Brown helped out with eight for the Big Red Machine, who trailed the majority of the game. Although they made a gallant effort to get back into the game in the fourth, St John’s kept their composure and stayed on top.

Giants 53

Comets 49

Tyrese Porter had a side high 19 points and Torrez Basden had 11 as they came through with the spark to enable St John’s senior boys to take the opener.

Nathan Allen also had 19 in a losing effort for Queen’s College.