Kwakwani Girls, QC and LTI Boys achieve championship status

Buoyed with excitement and scores of supporters, Youth Basketball Guyana (YBG) culminated the 2024 season of school basketball as Kwakwani Secondary Girls and Queen’s College Boys clinched championship status in the 13th Titan Bowl while Linden Technical Institute (LTI) resigned supreme in the third Tertiary Knockout Tournament.
Known for their dominance in basketball, Kwakwani’s Girls lived up to expectations once again as they annihilated President’s College on Sunday at the National Gymnasium. The Region 10 side controlled the first half of the game by a two-point margin, 10-8 and went on to dominate the second half, with the final scoreline reading 19-15.
With a three-pointer being the separator, Queen’s College pulled off the upset of the night as they secured an ecstatic win against Kwakwani Secondary Boys, establishing a 17- point lead in the first half. Kwakwani Secondary managed to pull themselves together in the second half, but it was a little too late as Queen’s College secured the win, 49-46.

Speaking to media operatives after the match, QC Head Coach Alisande Jaiserrisingh expounded that it was great to end the year with title success and divulged that the win was a testament to the hard work put in over the years.
Jaiserrisingh added: “That’s a narrow win… Coming into the game we knew that it would be a difficult game for us, because Kwakwani , they have been the champions for the past couple of years. So, we knew that we have to put up a strong fight and that we would have to work extremely hard and stick to our offensive and defensive setups in our game plan and we did just that.
“It was a close game coming down to the end because Kwakwani really pushed and they showed that they wanted it as much as we did, but in the end, it showed that we wanted it just a little bit more. And it’s a testament to the efforts we’ve been putting in over the past year at Queen’s College. We’ve been working on building a culture and it shows that that has been successful. It’s our third championship for the year and an excellent way to close out.”

Despite missing key players, Linden Technical Institute (LTI) overcame the weak defence of the Government Technical Institute as they secured championship status in the Tertiary Knockout Tournament. Showcasing their ability to rain 3’s, LTI led by nine points in the first half and went on to secure a 13-point victory, 30-43.
LTI Captain Stephen George, speaking to media operatives, disclosed their confidence heading into the match and going forward into next year to dominate tournaments.
George said, “Well, we ain’t lose in the past three tournaments…So, we know we’re going to win since the game start. So, just play with confidence and that’s it. Well, next year we’re going to come stronger, because we didn’t really get to train a lot for this. But we’re going to come stronger next year and make sure we dominate every year until there.”
The two year-end tournaments were sponsored by Francis-Lau Boyce Construction Co Ltd, ENET, John Fernandes, National Sports Commission, and Real Value Supermarket.