MFANTSIPIM AND AGGREY MEMORIAL CRUISE TO CENTRAL REGIONAL SPRITE BALL CHAMPIONSHIP.

Mfanstipim School retained the Central Regional Sprite Ball Championship while Aggrey Memorial won the girls division for the first time after the competition in the west coast was completed over the weekend.

Mfanstipim annihiliated their perrenial rivals Adisadel College at the semi-final stage before they conquered dark horses Cape Coast Technical School 22-10 in a keenly contested final game to lift the trophy for the second time in sucession.

The defending champions were given a good run for their money in the two halves despite the 12 points gap between themselevs and their opponent. The atmosphere was frozen as Cape Tech enjoyed massive support from students of Adisadel College but they crumbled under expectations as Mfantsipim exhibited great technical know-how to keep their heads high to scale the hurdle against their opponent.

Adisadel College themselves nicked in a narrow 15-14 win over perrenial rivals St Augustines College in the third place match to book their ticket for the grand finale in Accra.

Aggrey Memorial who qualified as the third best team from their zone in the run up to the Sprite Ball Championship, shocked pundits and fans at the venue by exhibiting awe-inspiring piece of skills and solid team work to beat Apam Senior High 8-2. The atmosphere was charged as both team enjoyed massive support form their fans and the final game lived up to its billing as the action swunged from one side to the other without blinking an eye.

But the Cape Coast based school came out tops following a rejuvenated second half display to beat their opponet to inch their name in gold plate.

But for a school like Aggrey Memorial who stopped the high- rated Wesley Girls in the group stages, it was evident that they were the team to beat after the startling opening performance against the defending champions.

Notwithstanding the inability of Wesley Girls to re-establish themselves as the powerhouse of female basketball in the region, they still scrapped through to the grand finale in Accra following their triumph in the national championship last year.

The Girls division was evenly spread as Kasoa based Isaaniya Secondary Business School came from behind to overcome hot-favourite Holy Child Senior High 7-6 in a keenly contested game and subsequently qualified for the national affair next month in Accra.

The girl schools exhibited immense improvement in the game and it was evident that the game has significantly improved in the region.

Over twenty (20) schools took part in the championship which attracted hundreds of crazy basketball fans to the schools and colleges park in Cape Coast.

Sprite Ball Championship 2009 is brought to you by Sprite, Sprite your thirst, and co-sponsored by Indomie Noodles- tastes great, EFPAC-blows your pain away, Latex Foam-Your partner for life, Ezzy paint with support from Ink it, TV Africa, Joy FM, 90 Minutes Newspaper, Ghana News Agency, Rock FM, Radio Xtacy and produced by Rite Multimedia, leaders in Basketball Development in Ghana.