The Tribune

By RENALDO

DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE BAISS girls basketball finals featured a repeat in the senior girls’ division and a new champion among junior girls.

SAC Big Red

Machine - 30

St Johns - 19

THE Big Red Machine left nothing to chance in game two and closed out the series in convincing fashion. Serena Brown finished with a double double - 11 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks - to lead SAC. They nearly held the Giants scoreless in the first quarter before the Giants finally broke the drought with a layup just before the buzzer sounded, but they still trailed 11-2 at the end of one.

With Brown on the bench in the second, Giants couldn’t capitalise. A steal and fastbreak layup gave SAC a 16-6 lead that they eventually took into the half. They led 24-12 headed into the third and the Giants, who failed to reach the 20 point mark in either game of the series, struggled to get back into the game.

SAC head coach Marco Mullings said his team’s experience and chemistry in the end were the determining factors in the matchup against the Falcons.

“This is a very experienced team, a lot of these girls have developed a chemistry together after playing with each other so they have an idea of what to expect, where to be in certain spots and it all helps in creating that advantage on the floor,” he said. “They know how to play together. These girls know how to win so the expectation is there, they just need to come out, be competitive and we will take it from there.”

Junior Girls

Queen’s College Comets - 22

Kingsway Academy Saints - 20

In a complete role reversal of 2015, the Comets completed the two-game sweep in the latest edition of the rivalry between the two programmes. Tylar Lightbourne and Aisja Strachan each had eight points while Ramona Hanna contributed six. Xavier Morris and Pindiesha Miller each finished with six points to lead the Saints.

Comets head coach Chadwick James said the title has been a long time coming, and he reminded his team of that as they trailed in the fourth quarter.

“I had to remind them of the mere fact and we made sure to let them know we are unstoppable, we beat everybody before and we could do it again and we finally did it,” he said. “Kingsway has beaten us in every championship for the last five year, now we got them.”

Lightbourne was a part of the team that lost to the Saints in last year’s championship. “Last year they were beating us by that same amount or more and we didn’t know how to handle it,” she said. “This year we are a much different team, a better team and we were able to get it done.”