Former Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association (KSSSA) basketball champions Buruburu Girls High School from Nairobi upset current holders Butere Girls High School from Western to reach the semi-finals.
Buruburu who are out to reclaim the title they last won in 2019 put up a spirited fight to beat Butere 33-27 in their second Group A match on day two of Brookside National Term One games currently on at Machakos School.
Butere’s Daisy Awino top scored with 12 points but her efforts counted for nothing as Buruburu fought tooth and nail to carry the day.
Buruburu captain Sharon Grace said that their greatest motivation was to win the game for their coach Julius Otieno. “Our coach has instilled confidence in us by assuring us that we can achieve anything we put our minds to. At first we were not confident and feared that we will lose the match because we were facing the defending champions but I told my teammates that if our coach believes that we can win then it was not impossible,” Grace said.
On their game plan Grace said that their strategy against Butere was defence. “We discovered that they are strong offensively and so we knew that the match could only be won in defence and so we played very well defensively and ensured that they got less shooting chances,” she added.
Buruburu won the game in the second quarter scoring 13 points against Butere’s four following an evenly contested first period that ended on a nine point deadlock. Butere would take the third quarter 10-05 before Buruburu sealed the win with five points in the fourth quarter. Buruburu had beaten Mpesa Academy from Central 57-22 while Butere dismissed Nyanza’s Nyakach Girls High 65-50 in their opening marches.
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I’m Group B, former titleholders Kaya Tiwi from Coast whitewashed Eastern region’s Ikutha Girls High 82-26 to book their semis slot. Rift Valley champions Nasokol drubbed North Eastern’s Hon DM Amin 155-02.
In the boys’ contest, defending champions Laiser Hill Academy from Rift Valley beat perennial rivals Dagoretti High from Nairobi 61-35 to storm the semis. Laiser Hill’s Daniel Kazadi was on fire sinking 21 points while Kelvin Mugusha scored 18. Gift Fidel and Noah Wafula top scored for Dagoretti with 10 and eight points. Dagoretti who have played in the finals since 2019 face an uphill task in do-or-die match pitting homeboys Lukenya School in the last Group A match. A lose for either side will see them exit the championship.
In Group B, national returnees Agoro Sare from Nyanza shocked 2022 champions Dr Aggrey from Coast 54-53 to secure their place in the semis. Sigalame who also returned to the national games beat Rift Valley’s Pioneer School 81-36 to revive their hopes of winning this year’s trophy.
By Education News
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