AIS girls wrest cager title from CIS in under 19 final

Angu RAJENDRAN

Effort, heart, toughness - the AIS girls whipped the defending champions – CIS, in all three areas. In the final encounter, Asian International School vs Colombo International School girls at the Under 19 International Schools basketball Championships organized by the British School, AIS beat CIS 40/26.

There were many heart-stopping moments for supporters of both teams until the end of the third quarter when the score stood at twenty points each.

AIS girls came on for the last quarter with adrenaline pumping confidence. Coach Gerald Jacob of the AIS team decided to use the two-three zone defence to prevent the drive-in attack from either side by the two senior CIS players – Onella and Sarah.

AIS’ tallest player Madhumitha Ravi was the back-up defence to stop the CIS players who drove through the zone. In the last quarter alone, AIS scored 20 points when their forwards – Amani, Isurika and Anan intercepted many loose passes while Shenali collected the rebounds and Madhu’s shooting was on target.

CIS players struggled after half time when the cool and confident AIS girls stopped them from scoring any three pointers as well. CIS scored only 6 points in the last quarter with at least four free throws in them.

AIS’ star defender and captain Upeksha Narayana who was out with five fouls in the last three minutes of the game was judged the Most Valuable Player of the finals. Amani Perera (AIS) was awarded the Golden Hoop Award for scoring 64 points in the tournament and Onella Karunanayake of CIS was awarded the Best Player of the tournament. For AIS, Madhumitha Ravi (14), Isurika Pathirana (8) and Anaan Anil (8) top scored while Onella Karunanayake (9), Sarah (6) and Lochana (4) top scored for the loser’s.