SPHSL Varsity Girls Basketball Championship

By V. Hassun

The SPHSL tournament is an exciting competition for all athletes. We play a range of games against other international schools in São Paulo, including Chapel, Graded, PACA, and EAC, in which we face each opponent twice - at home and away.

The tournament is highly competitive, and everyone wants to take the gold, thus all teams play with spirit and determination.
 
Since it was the Upper’s last year playing, we were determined to take the victory so that we could have one final win with them, and that was our goal throughout the whole season. We had various training sessions in which we prepared both mentally and physically for all games.
 
We started the season well, but we had some bumps along the road. We won almost all games, but we did lose one of the games against Graded, which meant we had to face them in the semi-finals in the Lion’s Den.
 
It was an exciting and tense game with lots of cheer from our fellow lions, and our team never gave up and were determined to win. After four quarters, we finished the game winning 32 x 14 and headed straight to the finals.
 
Since we lost both games against PACA during the regular season, the finals would be at their house, which added to the tension all players felt.

PACA and St Paul’s have a long rivalry against each other in basketball, which also added much tension to the game, but that does not mean we do not respect all the hard work and talent they have in their team.

As we arrived, all girls could feel the pressure, but we had to get our heads in the game and concentrate on taking the gold home. We filled PACA with lots of fan, who gave us all the support we could get.
 
We started strong, leading the game, and scoring lots of baskets. We lost some focus during the second quarter. However, after we took a breath and focused, we returned to the game, ready to take victory and give all that we had. All the long training sessions, pep talks, determination, and energy paid off in the end. The girls conquered victory against PACA with a fantastic score of 36 x 27, becoming the 2022 SPHSL Girls Basketball champions.
 
It was an amazing end to the season, and our team could not be happier to represent the school and bring back such a positive results. It was also the perfect way for the uppers to end their time in school.

Results:
St. Paul's 21 x 25 PACA
St. Paul's 18 x 19 Graded
St. Paul's 31 x 4 Chapel
St. Paul's 49 x 11 EAC
St. Paul's 11 x 15 PACA
St. Paul's 31 x 11 EAC
St. Paul's 22 x 18 Graded
St. Paul's 21 x 2 Chapel
St. Paul's 32 x 14 Graded - Semifinal
St. Paul's 36 x 27 PACA - Final