The Tribune

By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

The CH Reeves Raptors and DW Davis Royals both repeated as champions for the junior girls and boys division in the Government Secondary Schools Sports Association (GSSSA) basketball championships yesterday.

The Lady Raptors won their second straight junior girls’ title in a 2-0 sweep against last year’s runners- up the HO Nash Lions. Taking home their seventh straight junior boys’ trophy were the Royals who ousted the Anatol Rodgers Timberwolves 2-0.

Meanwhile, the CR Walker Knights’ senior girls and CI Gibson Rattlers’ senior boys forced a game three scheduled for this evening at the Kendal GL Isaacs Gymnasium.

Junior Girls

Varel Davis, president of the GSSSA, and the Lady Raptors will celebrate a championship win for the second consecutive year. One year later, it was the same opponent, followed by an identical result for the Lady Rattlers who defeated the Lions 42-33.

Coach Davis was proud of the young team, with a majority of new members, for bringing another title to CH Reeves.

“It feels good. I have been working hard from October, every Saturday nonstop. This is a pretty new team with two members returning from last year. I had to work extra hard with them [but] once I got them to understand the game, I knew we would be able to play our best,” she said.

The Lady Raptors opened the contest with an 8-2 run against the familiar opponent. The champions went into the half up 18-13 behind the efforts of Tajhaniqua Morley, who poured in 16 points in the first segment of the game.

Morley was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) and was relentless for her team in the best-of-three championship series. Playing in back-to-back games, she powered her way to a game-high 43 points on Monday and then followed that performance with a 30-point game to trump the Lions.

Morley totalled 73 points in just two games played, nearly outscoring the combined total of both teams.

The Lady Raptors outperformed the Lions 24-20 in the second half to secure the victory. Davis expressed how proud she was of not only the Lady Raptors but also the Lions.

“Most of them are first time players ever so for us to be here today, thank God for the victory because this is what you get from hard work. I am proud of these girls, hats off to HO we know Pattie is a very good coach and for years she has been dominating basketball for the junior school. I am happy for the win, two straight, I am happy for my girls,” she said.

Shawnovia Moxey amassed 15 points for the Lions in the loss.

Junior Boys

The Timberwolves threw everything they had at the Royals, but the seven-time champions held on for a narrow 44-41 win.

Anatol Rodgers pulled ahead 24-17 in the second quarter and went into the break up 26-17.

With the page flipped to the third quarter, the Timberwolves stayed on the attack and advanced to a 32-23 advantage at the 2:27 mark.

However, then came the Royals who rounded into form and closed out the third period ahead 34-32.

Mark Hanna, head coach of the Royals, said the team put in a lot of hard work to get to this point.

“We have been working, practicing, travelling and preparing for this moment. I give God the praise, my old principal Mrs Brown, my new principal Mrs Burrows, my wife and the whole DW Davis family. This is a dynasty and I am so grateful and happy that these guys came through tonight,” the coach said.

After leading most of the game, the second seed found themselves behind 42-40 but Joshua Russell split free throws at the char- ity stripe to pull the team within one.

The Timberwolves had a chance to tie the score but Nathan Neily bricked two free throws and the team was unsuccessful on a final layup attempt leading to a Royals victory.

“Anatol played a very good game. They came out with a tight zone and they went up by double figures but my guys knew what it is to run from Donald Davis to Montagu Beach, to the bridge, and 66 steps to get in top shape. They were more conditioned and I pushed them to the limit and gave God praise, we came out with the victory,” Hanna said.

Windisky Paul was named the MVP of the championships. He ended with a game-high 16 points.

Russell paced the Timberwolves with 15 points.

Senior Girls

The pennant-winning Stingrays fell to the Knights in a 58-56 nail-biter last night. The Stingrays were in charge of the contest 21-10 with under 4:00 on the clock in the second quarter. The Knights then pulled up their socks and got within three (26-23) on the scoreboard going into the locker rooms. The game remained close the rest of the way and came to a dramatic finish in the final quarter.

The Stingrays were ahead by one (55-54) with less than a minute on the clock and the Knights scored to create a one-point separation.

Garanique Bethel, of CV Bethel, was fouled on back-to-back possessions but split her attempts at the line on both occasions.

However, both Shenell Stewart and Shamaraja Cummings, of CR Walker, made clutch free throws at the line to put the game away and force a “do or die” game three.

Stewart had a side-high 25 points and Cummings poured in 20 points in the gritty win.

Senior Boys

The Timberwolves “died by the three” in game two of the series against the Rattlers yesterday. The latter evened the series behind a wire-to-wire 64-48 win.

The defending champions’ zone defence relegated the Timberwolves to shooting long-range jumpers to no avail in the first quarter.

The three ball started to fall in the following period but the Rattlers jumped ahead 14-7 at the the 7:32 mark. The pennant winners then went into the halftime break leading 35-23.

They kept their feet on the gas in the third quarter where they surged ahead by 14 (40-26) with 5:07 remaining. Despite the lead, the Timberwolves chipped away at the double digit margin and came within nine going into the final session. The Rattlers simply overwhelmed the Timberwolves in the quarter and went up 60-46 followed by a big dunk in transition to put an exclamation point on the victory.

The Rattlers and Knights will look to carry this momentum into game three today, beginning at 5pm.