Our year 7/8 and 9/10 basketball groups have been crowned 2nd best teams in their respective years across the city of Wolverhampton. After winning our Eastern divisions, we were asked to compete in the City Final which was hosted at the Wolverhampton University Walsall Campus.
First match – Year 7/8 were up against the winners of the Northern division St. Peters who are a very good outfit and have a Ex-professional player and professional coach who overseas all the basketball at the school – Dion Anderson. Out the blocks, they pressed us quickly and took an 8-2 lead in the first quarter. The end of the second we were leading 10-9 with some fantastic lay-ups from Hargurleen and a three pointer from our very own Mebest! Sadly, leading into the final quarters experience really began to show as the opposition were doubling up on Hargurleen and Mebest, and tiredness started to set in which was affecting our ability to track back and set a defence! The score finished 38-15 to St. Peters. Our group gave it their all – I can’t fault any of their attitudes or desire to keep going! A lot to learn from but so many positive things to come out of their performances this year, they have come together fantastically as a group. It has been great to see!
Second match – Year 9/10 group were up against Northern division winners St. Edmunds, and this proved to be a fantastic contest - not much to pick between the sides. Again, like the first match our group were very slow out to start and were losing 9-2 with some fantastic 3 pointers scored by the opposition. In the second quarter, we really came at them with some fantastic play from Omari and Cavalli who go us right back into it – the quarter ending 15-10. Jamal (Dennis Rodman style defending) was the defender of the match man marking their best player out the game, after scoring 6 in the first quarter he didn’t have a sniff near the basket really after that. Jamal was literally stuck to him like glue and really didn’t give him anywhere to go, often winning the ball off him to set up plays when going forward. There was a passage of play where we looked to score and instantly try to win the ball back from the restart which we did leading to 3 baskets being scored within 30 seconds (some great shots from Jemeres). Now, the belief started to set in with Omari scoring a basket through 3/4 defenders something which Michael Jordan would have been proud of himself! End of the 3rd quarter the game 28-19 to St. Edmunds, our defending as a group was much more organised and structured – finally the group were believing. In the last quarter, things were the same again – we had a passage where we scored two baskets in quick succession, but St. Edmunds ran the clock down well and even with our best efforts, we were defeated 35-26. The groups belief and resilience to not give up was something to be admired! In all honesty, we had double as many shots at baskets than St. Edmunds but their shot conversion was much better than ours on the day! Congratulations to them coming out on top, hopefully we can get a rematch one day!
Thanks to parents, staff and students for all the support that you have given to the groups this year, it has been fantastic! They represented our school fantastically! The only school in Wolverhampton to have two teams in the KS3/4 finals. Something to be proud of for sure!
ความคิดเห็น