Gwen Lizarraga High School girls basketball team surprised no one, when they swept their way to the Central Zone finals last week in undefeated fashion. In fact, according to their coach Allison Mendez, Gwen Liz girls basketball team has been undefeated for the past four years, going all the way to the Nationals. And this year looks to be no different. Tonight, they took on a game Wesley College girls team, who had struggled to clinch their finals spot with a semifinals game 3 win on Saturday over SCA. SCA had surprised Wesley with a 19-18 win on Thursday last, to tie the series at 1-1, and force the deciding game 3.
Making it to the finals is an achievement for Wesley, but if things continue as it seems they will, their success will end there. That’s because Gwen Liz girls team, behind their star player, Glenda Torres, was all business tonight. They jumped out to a commanding 16-7 lead at the half; and walked away with a 36-18 final score to seal game 1 in the best-of-5 games series for the 2010 CSSSA female basketball championship. Game 2 is on Wednesday night, and game 3 on Friday. If necessary, game 4 will be on Saturday, and game 5 on Sunday. But, as we said earlier, Gwen Liz looks to end it by Friday.
For the boys, well, with rumors around that Sadie Vernon’s star player Kachief Thomas had suffered a hairline fracture to his right ankle, and they were going up against Gwen Lizarraga’s tall and talented Mattew Young, who leads the CSSSA in points and rebounds, it seemed the series might be over before it even began. Kachief had looked on on Friday night, as his Sadie Vernon team struggled to a 50-43 win over Wesley to clinch game 2 and the semifinal series.
But, surprise, surprise! Tonight in the pre-game warm-up, Kachief was there; and he said it was only a strained ankle that he had suffered. The x-rays showed no fracture, and his foot was feeling fine. He would be playing tonight.
And play he did. In fact, Sadie Vernon might have surprised Gwen Liz tonight, with Kachief back in their line-up. And they played a tough, suffocating defense against Gwen Liz big center Mattew Young, who was effective from the free-throw line, but got no easy baskets to go along with it. The first quarter ended 20-10 for Sadie Vernon; and they extended their lead to 45-26 at half-time, with Kachief hitting a couple 3-pointers, and Andrew Ortiz playing big on defence against Young, who was constantly double teamed in the paint.
We haven’t got the final score yet; but for certain, we have a series. Gwen Liz won’t go down easily in this series; and for sure, Sadie Vernon is in it to win.
High school basketball is pure energy and excitement at the Civic right now. Wednesday is game 2 for both females, which begin at 5:00 p.m., and males, who take the court immediately after. Police security is in effect, and the kids are having a “ball”. See you there on Wednesday.