There were no surprises in Tuesday’s Central Secondary Schools Sports Association (CSSSA) basketball semifinals at the Belize Civic Center, where Wesley College girls and Sadie Vernon Technical High School boys both cruised through to secure their places in the championship finals series which begin this evening.
In the female game, Wesley had little difficulty against Anglican Cathedral College (ACC), with Genae Samuels scoring 11 points to lead Wesley to a 29-8 victory. For ACC, Janelle Grinage had 8 pts in the loss.
In the male match-up, Brian White made a gallant effort to lead his Wesley team against the defending champion Sadie Vernon, but they were no match for the awesome array of talent on the Sadie Vernon squad, led by last year’s MVP, Kaschief Thomas. Sadie Vernon jumped to a first quarter 20-point lead, and coasted the rest of the way, utilizing their full roster of players. Team captain Kaschief Thomas was smoking hot from 3-point range, finishing with 42 pts to lead Sadie Vernon to a 79-65 win. Andrew Ortiz added 11 pts for Sadie Vernon. For Wesley, who showed a lot of heart, Brian White ended with 22 pts, Raheem Staine 14 pts and Welton Franklin 11 pts.
Tonight will be game 1 in a best-of-3 games championship series for both females and males.
The Civic is in a deplorable state, but the court has been patched up some, and the kids are playing their hearts out. Their level of play befits a “state of the art” auditorium. And certainly, if you have to miss today’s game 1, you absolutely can’t afford to miss tomorrow’s game 2, which might be the end of the championships, as well as the last farewell to CSSSA basketball at the old Civic.
Thursday, December 8
Female Finals Game 1: SCA vs Wesley
Male Finals Game 1: SJC vs Sadie Vernon
Friday, December 9
Female Finals Game 2: Wesley vs SCA
Male Finals Game2: Sadie Vernon vs SJC
Saturday, December 10
Championship Finals Game 3 as needed