POSTED BY: Eurobasket Center
GEORGETOWN FEMALE DRAW FIRST BLOOD
Georgetown (GB):- THE Georgetown male side jumped ahead of their Linden counterparts in the battle of the titans on Saturday night, to take game one of the GT&T-sponsored Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation/ Wildfire Productions-organised three-match series 56-55 while their female players disposed of the ladies from the mining town 73-65 behind a 35-point game from forward Natasha Alder at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
Last night (Sunday) both teams were scheduled to play again, at the same venue, before next Saturday's final round.
The feature male clash proved the purists right as the revered former UCLA coach, John Wooden, once said: “the team that controls the backboard usually controls the game”, when the city side surprised all but themselves, in out-rebounding Linden and winning the game.
In the last minute, Linden came within one point and Nevin Grenville collected a pass from Gurrick and converted one of two from the three-point line. But Linden in the dying seconds gave up two possessions resulting in their failure.
The women's encounter was won by the Georgetown team which recovered from a first quarter thrashing to bounce to a 36-31 halftime lead. Linden fired back and were ahead after the third quarter 49-48, but ran out of steam in the final period and lost.
In piloting Georgetown's win, forward Natasha Alder had a game-high 35 points with 14 rebounds and two steals but she turned over the ball 13 times.
The experienced Rhonda Charles was the next best player with 17 points, five rebounds, three assists with four turnovers while Alicia Meyers collected 12 points, nine rebounds, two blocked shots and two turnovers.
Guard Shakeila Sampson was Linden's top-scorer with 23 points, five rebounds and six turnovers and Sonia Rodney scored 16 points, grabbed four rebounds, three assists, two turnovers
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