ISSL Basket Girls

By L. Behar

​The ISSL Season 1 tournament is composed of eight international schools around Brazil and Paraguay. These include the St. Paul’s Lions, PASPOA Huskies, PASB Panthers, Trinity Lions, British Barra Falcons, British Urca Falcons, Nations Cougars, and EABH Hawks. All were involved in the tournament and, for the duration of four intensive days, these schools would play against each other, defending their name and honour, competing for the podium.  

After what seemed like a long time after the last ISSL and the tragic semi-final against the Trinity Lions, the varsity basketball girls entered the tournament with determination and perseverance to achieve the ultimate victory and bring back home the Gold medal.  

During the group phase, St. Paul’s was located in the West Key, together with the schools of British Urca, PASPOA, and PASB. The girls met with two teams for the first day. The first game was against the Falcons from British Barra, which was a great win for the girls with the final score of 32 x 04. Later on, during the afternoon the girls them played against PASB securing another victory for the Lions with a score of 61 x 06. With a nice and wide gap, our girls started the tournament in a great position, already qualified to play the semi-finals.  

The second day had easily dawned over the NR camp. The girl’s excitement and motivation were evident as they played their first game in the early morning against the PASB Huskies; the match was another victory for the Lions with a score of 37 x 08. Maintaining an unbeaten position, the Invictus team approached the semi-final with maturity and drive. The game ended with a score of 33 x 08 to the St. Paul’s Lions once again victorious and unbeaten the girls advanced to the finals against their biggest rivals the Trinity Lions.  

On September 29th, the varsity girls had awakened with energy and determination to fight for the first place against the Paraguayans. Their determination and motivation were evident during the upcoming game, as they led a strong warm up and stretch. This was the most important moment of the ISSL tournament for the girls’ basketball team as it was the only opportunity they had to reclaim their title as champions of 2018 of the ISSL tournament. At 15:15 precisely, the ball was tossed in the air and the biggest game of the season had begun. The girls started the game in a great position with a solid defence that barely allowed the Trinity Lions to score; with a fast attack, the girls managed to surprise the Paraguayans with their willpower to win and reclaim their title. At the end of the first quarter, the game was tipped at our favour with a score of 09 x 06. A tense second, third and fourth quarter flew through. Trinity managed to build their score and defeated the St. Paul’s Lions to a score of 32 x 21.  

Independently of the result of this ISSL tournament, the girls have achieved numerous victories as a team and have represented the Lions with pride and ambition. It is safe to say that next year we will fight hard and train even harder for we will bring the Gold medal home and reclaim our title as champions!  

GO LIONS!