Who will take the Inter-Office Basketball 2024 Championship?

Goodnight and welcome to another edition of Sports Monday, I am Paul Lopez. The Inter-office Basketball League is back. This season consists of a total of fourteen teams equally divided into two divisions. It is early in the season, but teams are already battling for the top two positions in each division that gives them an express ride to the playoffs. On Sunday, in the first game of the day, Bowen and Bowen, in the grey and blue jersey, took on K.H.M.H., in black and red. This is their second game of the season. They both lost their first match.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

Luwani Cayetano with the two-point jumper to put Bowen and Bowen on the scoreboard. Max Nicholson creating some room to put up the jumper. He makes that one. Joshua Westby on the fast break, passes off the ball to Sheylon Matthews under the rim for the layup. Bowen has eleven points and K.H.M.H. is up by one, with twelve points in the middle of the first quarter. A corner three from Alexander Ellis gives Bowen the lead. They ended the quarter on top with twenty-five points. K.H.M.H. has seventeen points.

 

At the start of the second quarter Lopez gets the offensive rebound and uses his body to get the second chance points. K.H.M.H. with nineteen points. It is now a twenty-nine to twenty-seven points game in favor of Bowen.  Elmer Hamilton is wide open for the corner three. He takes the shot and makes it count, stretching the lead to five. Kyle Pitts comes up on the turnover. Sends the ball off to Hamilton. Tarique Solis with the drive. Bounce pass to Darnell Galvez, then Westby who puts it up. A beautiful play all around sends the game into time out. Bowen now up by seven points. The second quarter ended with Bowen and Bowen maintaining their eight-point lead with forty-three points to K.H.M.H.’s thirty-five points.

 

At the end of the third quarter, Bowen and Bowen had a nine-point lead. Both teams struggled from the three-point line. K.H.M.H. put up a good fight in the fourth quarter. They outscored their opponents by three points. But ultimately it was not enough to give them the victory. The game ended eighty-two to seventy-six points in favor of Bowen and Bowen. The Belize City Council reigns supreme in this division, that is Division B, early in the season, while the Belize Coast Guard and the Belize Police Department are tied for the top spot in Division A.

 

 

On to some more basketball action in the William Dawson Sprite Basketball Tournament. In this match Boom Blazers, in the green jersey, are taking on Hattieville Underdogs, in the red and blue jersey. An early start to the scoring for the Boom Blazers. Number seven for the Underdogs, on the other end, with smooth jumper. The referee calls a travel against Boom on this play. An open two point shot in the first for Underdog’s number five. A fast break is converted into a two-point basket on the other end. Boom Blazers were held to four points in the first quarter, but the Underdogs were only able to score eleven points.

 

The low scoring continued and by the end of the third quarter, the Blazers had scored only ten points, while Hattieville underdogs had twenty-two points. Blazers scored sixteen points in the fourth quarter, more than all three prior quarters combined. But it was not enough to defeat the Underdogs. They finished the game with thirty-two points.

 

 

 

And finally, for tonight, we bring you highlights from the Belize District Volleyball Association’s Division One Female Competition 2024. SQ Ultra Stars took on SQ Junior Stars on Friday night inside the SCA Auditorium.

 

Junior Stars has control of this one in the first set. Up ten points to their opponents’ seven. Emma Solano for Ultra Stars over the net. Emaun Marin. Mira Bood sets and its Marin again. Lissany Castillo sets it up for Jada Espejo. That one goes over the heads of the Junior Stars and lands on the line. That’s a point for Ultra Stars. Kaliee Godfrey with the serve. The ball is picked up. Bood with the set and Marin with the strong send across the net. Kristi Mai picks it up. Godfrey gets a touch of it. Catillo sends it over. Easy touch for Chloe Bowman to Bood. A net violation is called against Ultra Stars. Kristi Mai up to serve. Her team, Ultra Stars has a one-point lead with seventeen points. Great effort by Bowman. Bood works to bring it back, but Jaycee Usher was alert on the other side and made light work of the play.

 

Ultra Stars won the first set twenty-five to eighteen points. In the second set Ultra Stars dominated, winning by thirteen points. SQ Junior Stars came back in the third set putting up a fight. A big starting serve for Bood proves too much for her opponents. Bood with another massive service. Ultra Stars’ Amayah Lino up to serve. Ultra Stars is down by three points.  A big block for Ultra Stars, cutting into that lead. Mai looking to wrap this one up for Ultra Stars at game point and the service goes out of bounds. That is twenty-two for Young Stars. Young Stars trying to keep this one alive. The service goes over the net and the referee awards a point to Young Stars. They now have twenty-three and a timeout is called.  But this one quickly came to an end with an out-of-bounds service.

 

Well folks, that is all we have for you in tonight’s coverage of Sports Monday. Catch you in the next one.