FINALLY some good publicity has come Station Hill’s way.
Not as if this one wasn’t expected.
Wanda Agard-Belgrave scored the last of a game-high 15 points to ignite a 12-2 fourth-quarter run that all but sealed Mpact Station Hill Cavaliers’ ninth women’s basketball cup in Sunday’s 71-49 title-game victory over Tigers at the Wildey Gymnasium.
The win capped the Lady Cavs’ 19th cup in 11 years – a number that is expected to increase by yearend with Station Hill’s anticipated 11th league title.
So dominant has their performance been that the Cavs led for all but the game’s opening 1:26 when Jeneice Clarke and Irecka Louis gave Tigers a brief 4-2 advantage.
It’s also as close as they got for the remainder of the contest after the champs scored the next 13 points without reply following Ria Phillips and Tamisha Flatts’ brief transition exploits.
Agard-Belgrave started the surge with an “and-one” play in the paint before adding two more buckets inside as Cavs led by as many as 11 (19-8) in that quarter.
But the game’s decisive run didn’t come until the fourth when another Agard-Belgrave basket preceded a further string of Cavs points, turning a 49-36 cushion into a 61-38 blowout.
Agard-Belgrave’s long time front-court mate Astrid Alleyne added a pair of field goals in the feast to sandwich buckets from newcomers Dana Jones and Rhea Holder.
The run wasn’t quite done yet, as Louis’ subsequent jumper proved a mere introduction to Safiya Henry’s cameo appearance that put the Cavs ahead by 29 (69-40).
This was after the champs had threatened to put away Tigers on several occasions, leading 41-25 a minute before half-time following scores from Jones and Alleyne.
However, Station Hill only managed eight points in the ensuing third quarter, merely trading baskets back and forth with a rampant Clarke and Maria Cumberbatch.
“We come to play basketball as a team so we never feel threatened,” said Alleyne, who finished with ten points.
Phillips also scored ten and Flatts added 11 points for the Cavs while Clarke led Tigers with 12 points.