BELIZE CITY, Mon. Dec. 7, 2015–The Central Secondary Schools Sports Association (CSSSA) 2015-2016 basketball competition climaxed last week at Bird’s Isle with both female and male championships being determined in 2 games of a best-of-3 games Finals series.
In game 1 of the female Finals on Thursday, December 3, St. Catherine Academy (SCA) crushed Maude Williams High (MWH), 45-12. SCA was led by Tricia Jefferies 16 pts and Indie Dixon 12 pts; while MWH was led by Ashley Bailey 6 pts.
The male Finals game 1 on the same day saw Gwen Lizarraga High (GLH) prevailing in overtime over Sadie Vernon Technical (SVT) by a 100-93 final score. Top scorers for Gwen Liz were Keyvon Evans 51 pts and Aaron Young 23 pts; while Sadie Vernon was led by Glency Lopez 50 pts, and Darnel Galvez and Everal Tablada, Jr. with 15 pts apiece.
Game 2 of the Finals took place on Friday. In the female contest, SCA had a much harder time, but managed to secure the 22-20 win and the championship over Maude Williams. Tricia Jefferies had 8 pts for SCA, while Ashley Bailey and Arika Sheppard netted 7 pts each for Maude Williams.
The male Finals game 2 was another nail biter, but again it was Gwen Liz pulling out the 74-73 victory and the championship over Sadie Vernon. High scorers for Gwen Liz were again Keyvon Evans 25 pts and Aaron Young 14 pts; while Sadie Vernon’s Glency Lopez led all scorers with 32 pts, and Darnel Galvez added 19 pts in the loss.
The Young’s Engineering “MVP” Awards went to Celine Barrow (female) of St. Catherine Academy and Keyvon Evans (male) of Gwen Lizarraga High.
And the Emory Bennett “Silent Hero” Awards went to Latifa Ferguson (female) of Maude Williams High and Darnel Galvez (male) of Sadie Vernon Technical.
SCA girls and Gwen Liz boys will now represent the Central Zone in the upcoming high school basketball Nationals which take place this weekend in Corozal.