THE Linden male and female teams turned back the challenge of their Georgetown counterparts and made a perfect start to this year’s Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation’s (GABF) Inter-Association basketball championship on Saturday night at the Mackenzie Sports Club hard court.

Playing at home the Linden female bouncers outplayed their female rivals 59-44 and this was followed by a 58-50 victory by the male team from the mining town over the city men in front of a tense crowd.
Revered Indiana University basketball coach Bob Knight once said “basketball is simplicity and execution of fundamental skills, while defence is one of the most important of these skills”.The Linden coaches Ann Gordon for the women and Kevin ‘Two-Feet’ Joseph the men’s coach somehow were able to have their teams demonstrate such abilities throughout the games.
The first game began well for the feisty girls from Linden who opened a 12-0 lead led by forward Nichola Jacobs who scored six points in the opening session which ended 12-8, as the Georgetown girls sought to make it a close game.
But the Linden lasses were able to move into a comfortable lead by the end of the first half, 25-17, and seemed set to dominate the match-ups because of their speed and agility.
Georgetown bounced their way back into contention in the pivotal third quarter and, through some key inside plays, they trailed by three 32-35 when the period ended. Georgina Ifill led their charge as Natasha Alder by then had sunk three 3-point shots and ifill was making penetrations.
However, the bustling play of Tamara Hunter was significant along the way and she gave the crowd much to cheer about with the speed and ability to take it to the hoop. However, the Linden side kept their composure and were able to romp home eventually 59-44.
Hunter was the leading scorer for the Linden team with 16 points, Jacobs had 14 and Shakeila Sampson 13, while for the Georgetown side Ifill had the best score of 13 with Alder getting 12 including two from behind the arc. Laquanta Gibson got seven and I. Joseph six.
The second game began with Georgetown taking an early lead 4-0 before Linden responded to knot the scores and when guard Chris Williams knocked in his first shot from the 3-point territory it was Linden taking a 7-6 lead with about 5:10 to go.
Williams followed with his second consecutive shot from beyond the arc and forward Dwayne ‘Brown Sugar’ Roberts’ inside hook shot pushed the Lindeners to a 17-11 first-quarter lead in what turned out to be a good night for the homesters.
Pure shooter Williams continued his good shooting on the night and connected on his first shot after the second quarter began , as Linden took a 21-13 lead with 7;48 left and Orin Rose nailed one from beyond the arc as the Linden side continued their crisp play for a 24-16 lead. Shelroy Thomas answered this with a 3-pointer for Georgetown to make it a 24-23 lead. The game was again close before Roberts and company were able to break open to a 29-23 lead and the third quarter ended with a neat reverse by Trevor Profitt which ended 31-24 for the mining town side.
Dave Causeway then led the scoring for his team with this big shot from outside as the City team trailed 27-31 and Ryan Stephney for Georgetown had his side adrift 35-41 before Akeem ‘The Dream’ Kanhai netted to bring the visitors with a basket 39-41.
But the Linden team quickly regrouped and took the game to their opponents with excellent team work. By the end of the third quarter they had widened the gap for a ten-point cushion 49-39 advantage, as the stanza ended with a 3-pointer from Orin ‘Six-Head’ Rose at the buzzer.
With 5:01 to go in the last quarter and in this final flurry, Linden triumphed by the reliant shooting towards the end from Williams and Rose when it mattered most and came away winning 58-50.
The scoring for Linden was centred on Williams with 13 points, inclusive of three from beyond the arc. Roberts powered his way to 12 points, and Shane Webster added 10 for the victors. On a night when the Georgetown side were kept quiet, their best scorers were Kanhai with nine points and Travis Burnett and Jermaine Slater eight points each.
Written By Joe Chapman