A tense county final

Congratulations to the Girls Basketball team for reaching the Final of the County Championships. The girls had to win five matches in order to reach the Final, which was played last Friday against a team from the European School, Culham.

St. Clare's, coached by Franky Marulanda, were superbly supported by staff and students and made a bright start taking a 4-0 lead through a powerful display by captain Mia Kraus. However, Culham soon settled into the game and with the aid of some fussy refereeing fought back to lead 4-8. Our problems were then compounded when Mia was injured when blocking a shot. Thankfully she was only winded but still needed time out to recover and her influence on the court was missed as we wasted chances to close the gap. By the end of the 1st Quarter Culham were 8-15 in front.

The two teams looked even in 2nd Quarter with both sides creating chances but it must be said that Culham were far more clinical with their finishing and despite excellent attacking play by Magda Rejmoniak and Katharina Budin and some great defensive covering by Katie Riley, Culham increased their lead to 12-22.

However, St Clare's fought back in the third quarter, coming out with more urgency and energy and were revitalised by the return of Mia Kraus and the lively running of Klara Richtarechova. However, we still weren't able to match Culham's efficiency under the basket as we failed to convert yet more chances whilst Culham's finishing remained ruthless and they led 29-35 by the end of the Quarter.

By the start of the 4th Quarter there seemed to be a slight sense of inevitability about the final result but nobody had told Alessis Passannanti, who clearly was not ready to give up without a fight. Both her and Patrycja Prusiecka scored excellent baskets which appeared to lift both the players and the St. Clare's supporters and Aska Matsunaga deserves credit for covering every inch of the court with some excellent defensive running. However, Culham continued to convert the chances that they did manage to create and the final score of 41-50 was a reflection of that.

The match was played in an excellent spirit and the post match cakes baked by Aska were well received by players from both teams. Mia Kraus said "I am so proud of this team" and I would echo Mia's words. We are all proud of the girls and well done to all who took part. There is real hope for another Final appearance next season.

Chris Osbourn, Admissions Registrar

May