The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

The Government Secondary School Sports Association basketball championship series are set in three four divisions after the top seeds swept their best of three semifinal series.

The Doris Johnson Mystic Marlins Senior Boys, HO Nash Junior Girls and the Anatol Rodgers Timberwolves Junior Boys advanced with wins last night at the AF Adderley Gymnasium.

In the Senior Girls division, the CV Bethel Stingrays evened their series with the Timberwolves to force a third and deciding game tonight at the AF Adderley Gymnasium.

The Senior Boys championship will feature a new chapter in the rivalry between the Doris Johnson Mystic Marlins and the CI Gibson Rattlers.

The Mystic Marlins advanced with a 77-55 win over the CC Sweeting Cobras last night led by Richard Lowe’s team high 21 points. Matthew Saunders scored 13 and Joshua Burrows chipped in with 11. Haywood Seymour led the Cobras and all scorers with 24 points.

This year’s series will be the fifth time in the last seven years that the Mystic Marlins and Cobras will meet to decide the senior boys’ title.

In 2019, the Mystic clinched the title in the third and deciding game after the team alternated wins in the first two.

In the Junior Girls division, Lions head coach Pattie Johnson began the night with her perennial powerhouse Lions securing their place in the final with a 36-11 win over the DW Davis Royals.

Geraniqua Bethel and Trinity Cartwright each outscored the Royals with 12 apiece to lead HO Nash.

This sets up a rematch of the 2019 championship series between the Lions and the TA Thompson Scorpions. After losing the first game of the series, the Scorpions completed the backdoor sweep to dethrone the Lions as division champions. This year, the Scorpions once again enter the final as the top overall seed with an undefeated 9-0 record.

In Junior Boys play, the Timberwolves, powered by a game high 17 points from Tario Nairn, escaped with a 44-43 win over the SC McPherson Sharks to advance.

The Timberwolves will face the Royals in the final.

Head coach Mark Hanna and his top seeded DW Davis programme looks to cap its fifth straight undefeated season with a division title.

Championship series in all divisions will tip off February 10 at Loyola Hall.