Holy Childhood lift title with nail-biting win over Vauxhall

Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

Defending champions Holy Childhood High grabbed their fourth consecutive hold on the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) Under-19 schoolgirls basketball title with a nail-biting 44-43 win over Vauxhall High in Game Two of their best-of-three finals at the National Stadium courts yesterday.

The Oneil Brown-coached Holy Childhood were led to victory courtesy of good all-round performances from Shanice Williams (12 points, eight rebounds), Shanica Nicholas (12 points), Tiffany Sparks (10 points, 19 rebounds) and Tashet Scarlett (nine points, 18 rebounds).

"This title is much different from all the other titles. Because of the exams, the girls had to put in a lot of hard work to achieve this championship," said Brown.

Holy Childhood dominated the first half, as they outplayed their opponents on both ends of the court with their aggressive play and tight defence, which led to 17 turnovers by Vauxhall.

At the end of the period, Holy Childhood's dominance reflected in a 21-16 lead at half-time.

However, Vauxhall fought their way back into the match in the third quarter, mainly through the play of their captain and leading scorer, Lotayne Hudson, who scored 10 of her team's 16 points as they outscored Holy Childhood (14-13) to trail 34-30.

Both teams traded basket for basket down the stretch in the fourth period, until the latter stages when Vauxhall closed the gap.

Holy Childhood had a 44-42 lead with less than 15 seconds remaining in the game, with Vauxhall in possession of the ball.

game plan

Vauxhall's Tajai Hutchinson had a chance to tie the game for her team at the free-throw line, but she failed to convert both shots.

"We know that Vauxhall would have come at us in this game, but we were well prepared for everything that they had to offer because my team played their heart out and they stuck to the game plan," said Brown.

Hudson ended the match with a game-high 21 points and seven rebounds and Abbygail Larmond contributed 13 points and 13 rebounds for Vauxhall.

Nyron Hurd, coach of Vauxhall, said: "My team played very well ... I think the girls enjoyed the game even though they lost it and they are a bit down."