The Tribune

By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

THE CI Gibson Rattlers’ senior girls and boys put the Government Secondary Schools Sports Association (GSSSA) on notice after both earned resounding double-digit wins yesterday against the Doris Johnson Senior High School Mystic Marlins.

The latter got blown out 58-8 by the Lady Rattlers at the DW Davis Gymnasium. The senior boys were also in top form and took care of business in their game (82-22) to both collect their first victory of the young GSSSA basketball season. The senior games were the only ones played yesterday.

Senior Boys

The senior boys’ defending champions had to shake off some rust in game one of their GSSSA season but, after the first half, they were firing on all cylinders.

The Rattlers started the opening quarter 10-7 and closed out the period leading 16-9.

In the following quarter, the Mystic Marlins began to pick up steam and a timely two-pointer by Stephen Robinson made the score 26-15.

The Mystic Marlins then trailed the Rattlers by 14 (29-15) going into the halftime break.

Kevin ‘KJ’ Johnson, head coach of the Rattlers, thought his team came out flat in the first segment of the game but rounded into form to close it out against the Mystic Marlins. “We came out horrible, turning

the basketball over, so I trusted my bench. They really got the momentum going in terms of the energy level and we kept it going in the second half,” coach Johnson said.

The second half brought out a different Rattlers basketball team. After a first half filled with turnovers, and defensive lapses, they locked in and ran up the score on the Mystic Marlins.

Gerrad Rolle was the game’s leading scorer with 11 total points for the victors. Darius Hanna and Mario Rolle also came up big with 10 points apiece in the win. In the third quarter, the defending champions outscored the Mystic Marlins 18-2 with some stingy defence. The third period concluded with 47-17 on the scoreboard.

In the fourth quarter, the Rattlers poured in 35 points compared to eight from their opponents and had a 55-point advantage at the 1:14 mark. The Mystic Marlins never recovered.

Coach Johson talked about the team’s expectations as the season progresses into next year.

“We are going to take it one game at a time because every game is different. We got to understand the way referees are calling and make our adjustments as a team and coaching staff. At the end of the day, we have to continue to grow and learn from this and continue to get better,” he said.

Senior Girls

The Lady Rattlers secured a comfortable win behind the efforts of last season’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) Jada Francis. She gave the Mystic Marlins all she had for a game-high 17 points, with eight scored in the first quarter.

The Rattlers turned in 22 points in the opening period, with 15 coming from Francis and Ferelus Sterva, who rounded up seven points.

The Mystic Marlins saw half to their game total scored by Faith McKinney in the first quarter but, after that point, they were outmatched by the Rattlers across the board.

Dashara Stubbs scored the final point for the Mystic Marlins at the halfway mark of the fourth quarter. With the score at 45-8, Brihanna Ferrington called bank on a difficult three-pointer to put an exclamation point on the dominant win.

Coach Johnson said it was a good win by the senior girls. “It was a pretty decent win. I think it started on the defensive end. We slid our feet defensively and forced some turnovers and were able to score easy baskets,” he said. “It is very important that we continue to teach and let them learn and play the game the right way. That is important because going down the stretch there are going to be harder teams so we need to understand what we need to do so they can learn and continue to play better,” the head coach added.

For the seniors, the RM Bailey Pacers take on the CR Walker Knights in the CI Gibson gymnasium at 4pm today.

At the DW Davis gym, the HO Nash Lions play against the Anatol Rodgers Timberwolves in the junior division.