The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THERE were some thrilling outcomes yesterday as the CH Reeves Raptors junior girls, DW Davis Royals junior boys, CV Bethel Stingrays and Anatol Rogers Timberwolves senior boys all prevailed in game one of the Government Secondary Schools Sports Association basketball championships.

The excitement will continue today at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium when game two of all of the best-of-three series will be played, starting at 4:30pm with the junior girls.

If necessary, the third and deciding games will be played on Wednesday.

Senior boys

Timberwolves 63, Rattlers 55: After losing the pennant in the final regular season game by five points, Anatol Rodgers came out with a vengeance and took the sting out of CI Gibson, the defending champions.

“It was good for us to come back. We were able to work on some things and we executed as best as we can,”said Denykco Bowles. “Thank God we got the victory.”

As they look ahead to game two, Bowles said once they come out and play with the “same intensity and the same zeal and fight right to end,” they will be in great shape to win it.

Jefferson Bethel led Anatol Rodgers with 12 points, Kirkwood Rolle and Derek Francis both had nine, both Xavier Thompson and Marco Nottage contributed eight and Cavelle Ferguson chipped in with six.

For CI Gibson, Tashon Butler had a game high 19, Gerrad Rolle had 11, Dwayne Finley seven and Stevachko Jacques five in a losing effort.

In shooting the ball from the outside, Anatol Rodgers was able to open a 17-15 lead at the end of the first quarter. The trend continued in the second half as they surged ahead 36-24 at the half.

It was a scoring drought for over one minute before both teams finally scored to start the third. But with 1:42 left, the Rattlers turned up the heat and trimmed the deficit to 45-37.

A buzzer beating jumper by Cavelle Ferguson (No.4) put Anatol Rodgers back up by 10 (51-41) at the conclusion of the third period.

With 3:51 left, CI Gibson trimmed the lead to 59-51, but with 1:51 on the clock, Thompson got a driving lay-up to push their lead back to 10 (61-51). Then at 52.6, Finley converted a pair of free throws to knock it down 61-55.

But with 32.2 seconds left, Rolle got a fast break lap-up for a 63.55 margin to seal the deal.

Senior girls

Stingrays 38, Knights 34: In a match-up that went right down the wire, CV Bethel took the upper hand in their senior girls’ series against CR Walker as Trinity Bodie paced the way with a game high 19 points.

Riccarra Beadle had eight points, Garanique Bethel contributed seven and Danielle McCoy, who made her presence felt on the defensive end, chipped in with four.

CV Bethel’s coach Shan- tell Rolle spoke about the stunning turn of events in the game. “I told my girls how we play will dictate the outcome of the game.”

Shamaraja Cummings paced the Knights with 12, Shenell Stewart had eight, Raynia Russell six and both Shania Munroe and Valtinique Simmons had four in a losing effort.

The Knights polished off the first quarter with an impressive 12-0 lead.

Nothing else to say.

The Stingrays were stunned.

Finally, in the first minute and-a-half of the second quarter, the Stingrays got on the scoreboard on a basket from No.24. What a shocker it turned out to be the rest of the period as CV Bethel stormed back for a 17-16 lead at the half.

In the third quarter, it turned out to be sea-saw battle until the Stingrays got a couple of fast break baskets and slowly pulled away for a 29-22 margin at the final break.

When it counted the most in the fourth, CV Bethel opened a slim four-point lead, until Stewart hit two throws for a 34-32 deficit. And with 41 seconds, Bodie banked a three-point shot to extend their lead to 37-32.

Junior boys

Royals 66, Timberwolves 54: DW Davis got the 1-2-3 connection with Zion Goodman leading the way with a game high 18, Windisky Paul had 15 and Kernaj Dean added 13.

Khamani Dean finished with nine in their attack.

“I want to thank God for the victory. We picked up our intensity when we had to, but we’re going to go back to the drawing board and we will come out much better in game two tomorrow,” said DW Davis coach Mark Hanna.

Joshua Russell scored 16 points, Ephraim Hepburn had 12, Philip Rolle 10 and Damarion Ellis eight in a losing effort.

In what started out as a keenly contested junior boys’ match-up, DW Davis managed to connect on the final points to end the first quarter with a slim 13-8 lead.

In a fast paced second quarter, Anatol Rodgers used their height advantage to control the boards and were able to make a surge, but it wasn’t enough as they still trailed 26-17 at halftime.

Coming out of the locker room, the Royals applied a full-court press that resulted in them extending their lead to 30-19 in the first minute.

But every time the Timberwolves were able to make a surge, they couldn’t stop the attack from their opponents, who held onto a 49-33 lead at the end of third.

Junior girls

Raptors 58, Lions 42: In what was supposed to be a chess match between two juggernaut coaches, Varel Davis and her CH Reeves junior girls got the better of Patricia ‘Patty’ Johnson and her HO Nash squad in a huge win.

“I knew that coach Patty Johnson and HO Nash are a pretty good team. They beat us in the regular season, so we went back to the drawing board and we made the adjustments.”

Thanks to Tajhaniqua Morley’s game high 42 points, including 11 in the first quarter, nine in the second quarter, 17 in the third and seven in the fourth, the defending champions Raptors made game one look so easy.

Rihanna Bethel helped out with eight and Ellshy Canton had the other seven to make the difference in the win. Anthonique Pedican and Jada Frazier provided a 1-2 punch with 17 and 16 points respectively and Shawnovia Moxey chipped in with eight in the loss.

The Lady Raptors opened up with a 4-0 lead in the first two minutes of the game and by the end of the first quarter, they had extended their margin to 14-5 as they applied the pressure.

Although the Lions made a slight dent into the lead as Andrewnique Smith picked up her third foul early in the second quarter, the Lady Raptors were able to maintain their composure.

CH Reeves posted a 28-16 halftime lead.

The intensity level continued in the third quarter as Morley literally took control of their offen- sive attack, surging ahead with several key defensive rebounds. They extended their lead to 49-21 at the final break. HO Nash made a gallant comeback in the fourth, but it was a little too late.

Morley finished with a game high 42 points.