– Wins for President’s College and Kwakwani in male division finals

KWAKWANI Secondary School won two of the three Youth Basketball Guyana (YBG) Titan Bowl X finals, which were held on Sunday evening at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

The dominant school, coached by Dave Causway, won the female competition and the U-16 battle, while 2019 National Schools’ Basketball Festival champions, President’s College (PC), solidified themselves as the top U-18 school in the country with another championship victory.

DOMINANT SEARS

Kwakwani’s Shania Sears led from the front in the opening battle.  The female captain dominated early to finish the game with the same points as the current three-time YBG national schools’ champions, Marian Academy.

The power player had scored 21 of her 29 points during the first half to lift the visitors to a 32-7 lead. 

Marian Academy, who had defeated Kwakwani in the festival finals in July, proved their class and were able to put the brakes on Sears and actually managed to outscore their opponents in the second half, but the damage was already done.  Final score: 50-29.

Support for Kwakwani came from Atalia Rose, who was just short of a double double. She scored nine points (including one from downtown) and 11 rebounds.  Holly Grimmond added eight points, 12 rebounds and four steals.

Kelliann Sauers, who was the hero in July, scored 11 of her 16 points in the second period for the Georgetown school. The guard also had eight rebounds and five steals as she attempted to bring her team back, but she lacked support. None of the other Marian Academy players reached five points.

On Saturday, Marian Academy defeated Saint Stanislaus College 40-27 in the semi-finals with Sauers scoring nine points and eight rebounds.

Kwakwani, on the other hand, had continued their dominance by whipping a quality Queen’s College team 75-8 in the other semis.  In that clash, Grimmond had scored 16 points and 13 rebounds and Natalya Clarke 14 points, 13 rebounds and eight steals.

U-16 BATTLE
Kwakwani’s other victory on Sunday was against Arima Secondary (the two schools are approximately one hour away from each other) in the U-16 male final.  Led by Elijah David with 12 points and eventual MVP, Hosea Conway, with six points and 10 rebounds, Kwakwani Secondary were able to register a five-point win 39-34.

Kelon Philips scored a game-high 14 points and Jamal Lyte added eight points and nine rebounds for Arima.

Meanwhile, in a tough battle, PC were able to register a six-point victory against New Amsterdam Technical Institute (NATI) 60-54 in the U-18 final.

PC’s Jushawn Baily shot his way to 21 points and seven rebounds (an MVP performance). Support came from Gabriel Lim, who was a ‘monster’ on the boards.  Lim pulled down 23 rebounds to go with his 16 points.

Kadeen Dover finished with an impressive 21 points, seven rebounds and six steals for NATI while Charles Williams added a double double (15 points and 13 rebounds).