Point guard Ama Serwah Mitchual inspired St Mary’s to clinch the Greater Accra Inter colleges Basketball Competition after beating Kinbu in an epic final on Tuesday.
The 17-year-old underlined her status as the finest female player in High School basketball in the capital with depth and sublime performances at the El-Wak stadium.
Veteran coach Mathias Ocloo stints with St Mary’s will be viewed as a huge success having transformed the side into becoming rising giants in the game.
He picked his motivational spot wisely, calling Tuesday’s final game against Kinbu essentially a must-win, and starting point for Mary’s to begin to get its disappointing season back on track and pointed to the right direction.
The Korle-based side lost the finals of the prestigious Sprite Ball competition to Aggrey Memorial in a nerve-racking contest at the Aviation Social Centre in Accra last month and needed to pick themselves up.
For a game against a stubborn opponent, Mathias Ocloo’s charges responded to the challenge.
They came out focused and aggressive from the start, and used a 10-point first half as a launching pad for a rather easy 20-11 win at the El-Wak stadium.
The team was focused mentally as seen in previous games but physically wasn’t all the way there just yet.
They had to rely on the skill, deftness and scoring ability of Ama Serwa Mitchual who played through the pain barrier having been down with malaria since last week.
She was the main architect in their semi-final win over Sacred Heart and continued her prowess by inspiring the side to beat the highly-rated side in a fabulous final.
The thing that most impressive about St Mary’s performance on the afternoon wasn’t necessarily the win over a stubborn-talented opponent.
It was the way they came out from the opening tip and took care of business with an efficiency and effectiveness we’ve seen only in flashes that was difference.
The offense was executed with purpose, the ball moved fluidly to find the open girl, and all five players on the court were active and engaged defensively.
Sacred Heart placed third.
By Patrick Akoto
