Bulls-Cavs part 5 it is.
Was there ever a doubt?
Women’s basketball’s most ardent rivalry is set to take centre stage again after Wanda Agard-Belgrave scored a series-high 40 points to cap Mpact Station Hill Cavaliers’ two-game sweep of Combined Schools Hoopsters in Saturday’s 74-38 Game 2 rout at the Wildey Gymnasium.
It was the second time in as many seasons Hoopsters found themselves on the wrong end of a first-round sweep from the former ten-time league queens, who advanced to their 13th successive title series – and fifth straight against Clapham.
But it’s the first time Station Hill will enter their perennial dance with Bulls as anything but champs, having surrendered the title in stunning fashion a season ago.
They surely didn’t give up anything to the schoolgirls in this series though.
For the second straight game, the lady Cavs had a double digit advantage (19-8) as early as the first quarter, before going up by as many as 20 (40-20) before the start of the second half.
And this was after Hoopsters held their more illustrious counterparts to just six points over the first six and a half minutes of the contest while threatening to make a game of the series.
Nevertheless, the schoolgirls just had no answer for Agard-Belgrave or Astrid Alleyne.
Coming up short on both height and experience, Hoopsters’ frontcourt never was able to keep the “twin towers” off the offensive glass, giving up numerous second chance points to the Cavs duo in a 13-2 run to end the period.
The two weren’t done yet either, far from, with Alleyne punishing her opponents on successive drives down the middle in the ensuing second to supplement Agard-Belgrave’s jumpers that stretched the lead to 20.
Such was their dominance of the paint that schoolgirls forward Shannon Green picked up her fourth final before halftime while her teammates had to settle for jump-shots at the other end in fear of the blocks dished out.
Yet Agard-Belgrave never seemed satisfied.
Whether in the post, off the jab or via face-up jumpers, the Station Hill lynchpin proved unstoppable while pouring in all but four of the Cavs’ 22 third-quarter points as part of 22-8 close-out surge.
Even with the lady Cavs up by as many as 30, Agard-Belgrave still added insult to injury, finishing the period with an “and-one” to beat the buzzer before going coast-to-coast on a layup early in the fourth quarter.
Alleyne eventually finished with 17 points and Tamisha Flatts added 11 while point guard Ashlee Daniel was the lone Hoopster in double digits with 14 points.
Game 1 of the finals is slated for tomorrow night at the same venue.
Earlier, Stephan Ottley scored a game-high 21 points and Antoine Morris added 20 as the junior Cavaliers maintained their unbeaten start to the Under-20 tournament with a 78-49 beating of Warrens. Jamario Clarke chipped in with 18 points while Jeremy Whittaker led the losers with 14 points.
In the day’s other Under-20 game, swingman Alejandro Boxhill had 20 points to lead Lumber Company Lakers to a 65-48 blowout of last year’s finalists Bayland Basketball Academy. Chiamaka Browne scored 17 and Jimal Singh added 13 while Denzel Bovell was the top-scorer for Bayland with 16 points.
