By Taromane Martin_ISLAND SUN

 

El Divas are through to the grand final of the Honiara Basketball Women's League A division after a 33-27 semifinal win over D-Fenders women's basketball yesterday.

Di-Fenders staged a fight back in the fought quarter rounding in 12 points but just couldn't matched El Divas twelve points which eventually saw them take 33 points from the game while D-Fendersfinished with only 27 losing out by just eight points.

Lysa Wini and Hemah Aquillah were instrumental for Di-Fenders both shooting a couple of three pointers with the former grabbing two three pointers and a basket while Auqilla also downed two three pointer to stage their teams 4th quarter fight back.

However El-Divas Esta Elli and Rose Maea were also both superb for their team shooting three point baskets and two pointers for their team when points were hard to come by.

The third quarter saw both Di-Fenders and El Divas struggling to grab points.

El Divas Maea grabbed a three point basket in the start of that quarter to put El-Divas in the driver's sit, extending her teams score to 22. However that was the last points El-Divas collected for the quarter as they struggled to penetrate through Di-Fenders mighty wall for chances of easy shots once more.

Di-Fenders sharp shooters too were also having a bad day at the other end of the court as the pressure of the occasion seemed to pressurize them. Di-Fenders were having a hard time grabbing points from under the hoop as their players were found guilty of spending way too much time with the ball time and time again instead of shooting for points.

The lack of points forced Di-Fenders coach to call for a time out to give his players a breather two minutes from time.

Chances were there for both teams to score baskets but poor finishing and good defending by players of both teams saw the third quarter finish 22-11 to El-Divas.

Despite the strong comeback by Di-Fenders in the fourth quarter it was the first quarter that had decided the match for El Divas.

El-Divas devastating counter attacks and the pace of their experienced players helped them out muscled a young and less experienced Di-Fenders team to establish a commanding 13-6 lead in the first quarter.

For El-Divas this victory over Di-Fenders saw them book their spot for the grand final of the women's A division.

Meanwhile in the other semifinal of the women's B division Andel managed to evade a HCC invade defeating HCC 31-21 to also book their spot for the B division grand finale.

The other semifinals of the women's A and B division will take place on a later date while the High School grand finals are sure to take place this coming weekend.