THE SCHOOLGIRLS’ Under-19 champions will be decided this afternoon at the St Michael School and you can blame it on the rain.
It should have been a done deal yesterday but a brief shower soaked the area by the basketball ring on the eastern end of the court and play was stopped with 1 minute and 41 seconds left on the clock in the third quarter.
The game is up for grabs with the home side leading Springer Memorial 24-23.
The scoreline pretty much summed up the state of the contest and why it hangs in the balance.
The exchanges swung one way and then the next. In fact, the St Michael girls scored the first eight points without reply and Springer matched this by scoring nine straight to take a 9-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The opening minutes definitely belonged to the home team as they made better of their scoring opportunities, much to the delight of their supporters. Springer had more of the ball but the shots just didn’t drop for them. Even a few lay ups were wasted after gaining possession and transitioning through fastbreaks.
Both teams committed too many turn overs and fouls – perhaps too hasty to execute game strategy – and were in foul trouble before the second quarter ended.
Neither team was prepared to give a quarter nor in the mood to ask for any.
St Michael were ahead 19-18 at half-time and kept their noses in front 24-23 until the rain intervened.
So far Tower Lorde and Zara Ashby have been the hot hands for St Michael with nine points each, while Rashana Thorne with 12 and Renee Burke, seven, lead the Springer charge.
With the third quarter continuing plus a full quarter to play, the final result could go either way. Â (AT)
