The Tribune

By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

THE 2023-24 Catholic Board of Education Primary Schools basketball season got underway on Friday at the Loyola Hall.

Four games were played across the girls and boys division which saw the Sts Francis & Joseph School Shockers win both of their season openers.

The Xavier’s Lower School Giants collected a win for the girls and St Cecilia’s Strikers boys team earned their first victory of the young season. Games will continue every Friday at Loyola Hall until the championships in December.

The Shockers boys and girls meant business on opening day of the 2023-24 basketball season.

The girls set the standard for the teams after they took down the Strikers 14-5. Grace Smith for the Shockers was too much for their opponents as she scored the team’s first three buckets.

The team ran out to an 8-0 lead to start the contest and remained relatively uncontested the rest of the ball game.

Nkomo Ferguson, the Shockers’ newest head coach, talked about the dominant win by the girls team to start the regular season.

“This is a new school for me, so it is a beginner starting from fresh. We still have another five games to go so hopefully it gets better as the season goes along,” he said.

Smith complimented the collective effort of the primary school team on the defensive end of the court.

“Defence was key, we pressed the ball and after we pressed, we stole the ball and found the most open person and it happened to be Smith most times,” the coach added.

After a big win by the girls, the Shockers boys team followed suit and wrapped up the Giants 20-14 in one of the most competitive games of the day. Both primary schools were locked in to start the game, with the score separated by just one point (7-6) in the opening half.

In the third quarter, the Shockers switched their defensive scheme to a full court press which sapped any late-game momentum exhibited by the Giants.

The head coach said although they got the win, he felt that the boys played a sloppy game and would have to clean up those mistakes as the season progresses.

“The boys played sloppy, we could have played a whole lot better, nobody kept their defensive assignments but thankfully we came out with the win,” Ferguson said.

The Strikers secured a comfortable 16-6 win against the St Thomas More Sparks.

The team ran out to a 10-2 advantage following the opening tip as the Sparks struggled to get a score on the board. The latter’s first score came in the third period and, at that point, the Strikers were already in the driver’s seat.

Donillo “Donnie” Culmer, head coach of the Strikers, noted that there were some first game jitters for the boys, but they have a lot to work on going forward. “A win is always good but we have plenty to work on, with this being the first game, the guys had plenty of jitters. They are young so it is a learning process and we hope to get better each week,” Culmer said.

The Giants girls showed up for the primary school after they closed out the Sparks 19-2 to get their season underway.

Raygail Smith, head coach of the Giants, said the first win felt awesome. “These girls were practicing for a long time, of course they are gonna be scared because for a lot of them it is their first time, they had to get these jitters out and to win this first game proves that they can do it,” she said.

The season continues at the Loyola Hall on Gladstone Road at 3:45pm this Friday.