By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

The Kingsway Academy (KWA) senior girls’ basketball team was the only team to claim the championship in their division with a 2-0 sweep against last year’s defending champions St John’s College (SJC) Giants yesterday at the Kendal GL Isaacs Gymnasium.

The Saints earned their second victory of the series with a decisive 35-12 win over the Giants in the senior girls’ championship game.

While the Saints relished in championship glory, the Charles W Saunders Cougars junior girls, Queen’s College Comets senior boys and Giants junior boys all staved off elimination in their respective best-of-three championship series.

The Cougars slayed the Giants 41-39 in an overtime thriller in the junior girls’ championship matchup.

The Giants’ junior boys lived to fight another day with a 41-35 victory over the Jordan Prince William (JPW) Falcons.

The Comets’ senior boys tied the series 1-1, after defeating the Giants 57-53 in game two of the series.

Senior Girls

The Saints got much-needed revenge against the defending champions in a rematch of last year’s senior girls’ finals.

Kingsway Academy had the Giants’ number throughout the entire series thanks to impressive performances from junior national basketball team member Andica Curtis.She pitched in a game-high 19 points to emerge as not only the game’s top scorer but also the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the series.

Curtis spoke about how it felt to pull off the championship win. “I feel great. I feel like even though we could’ve done better as a team we did good and we’re champions,” she said.

The Saints took care of business from the opening tip. The team got ahead 13-2 by the 1:31 mark of the second quarter and led 15-4 at the intermission.

KWA steamed ahead 27-6 with 2:29 to go in the third. They managed to outscore the Giants 16-3 in the third period and the rest was history.

Curtis was also pleased to win the MVP honours.

“It is great. It is nothing I have never accomplished but I am still grateful and thankful for it. 

“I appreciate our coach for all the work and effort he put into our team. We’re glad that we made it this far,” she said.

Lebronique Demeritte along with Zhyon Wilson scored four apiece for the Giants in the loss. 

Junior Girls

The Cougars and SJC Giants needed an extra period of play to settle the score in the junior division.

The matchup was a battle of free throws at the end of regulation and in OT.

The Giants looked like they were headed to a championship celebration when Dania Rolle hit a clutch jumper with less than 20 seconds on the game clock. However, the Cougars were fouled and Raynique Tinker rattled in two free throws to put her team within two (33-31). CWS once again scored this time with Laila Lenard successfully driving to the bucket to tie the score at 33 and force OT.

Cougars assistant coach Edward Dean said it was their fight that won them the game. 

“It was just the fight in the ladies. They never gave up even when the chips were down. That’s the heart of a champion and they want to be champions so they have to fight like champions and that is what we are doing today,” he said.

The Cougars outscored the Giants 8-6 in overtime.

Tinker scored a team-high 15 points for the Cougars.

Junior Boys

A massive third quarter surge was what the Giants needed to neutralise Alijah Pierre and the JPW Falcons in game two.

After trailing 17-15 at halftime, the Giants came within 1 (24-23) in the third.

SJC’s Brando Thompson nailed a smooth floater to give the team the lead 26-23 and they never looked back. The team closed out the third period in charge 31-25.

The Giants outscored the Falcons 26-18 the rest of the way to force a game three.

Giants head coach Dastyn Baker was pleased with the team’s gritty game two win.

“My guys followed the game plan. I must give it to them. They played with a lot of heart tonight… Before the game we were in the locker room and they said they did not want their season to end and they came out, showed up and performed,” he said.

He added that the strategy for game two will be to lock in on Pierre and force him to make mistakes on offence.

Deangelo Hinsey dropped a team-high 13 points for the Giants in the win.

Pierre had a game-high 25 points for JPW in the loss.

Senior Boys

The Comets figured out a way to solve the Giants’ senior boys team last night.

The Giants were in the driver’s seat 31-25 at the halftime break before the Comets responded in the second half.

QC pulled within 4 (43-39) at the 6:24 mark of the fourth quarter. D Rolle hit a deep two that put QC on top 46-45 late in the final stretch.

With the score favouring QC 55-53, the team placed the final nail in the coffin with a go-ahead layup with just 6.5 seconds remaining in the game.

T Higgs had a team-high 17 points for QC in the win.

The 2025 BAISS best-of-three championship series continues today at 4pm in the Kendal GL Isaacs Gymnasium.