Chisipite Senior School Basketball Coach Martha Banda booked her team tickets to Johannesburg to play in the Inter-Catholic Basketball U19 Festival this weekend to gain exposure ahead of their home season.. “It will be a good opportunity for the team to face strong Johannesburg teams,” Banda told SSN. Little did she expect that in addition to experience, they would be bringing home the festival trophy.
After narrowly losing in a friendly match against St Peter’s College on Friday 20-21, Chisipite went on to be undefeated in Saturday’s festival. In the pool matches of the tournament, they blew out St. Catherine’s 46-0, though admitting them to be “beginning basketballers.” They defeated Sacred Heart 29-4 and Dominican Convent Johannesburg 10-7.
Chisipite then advanced to the semi-finals where they best Holy Family 8-0. Finally, they faced Dominican Convent a second time in the Finals and won 28-4 to secure the trophy.
Sarah Fodouop captained the team of 10 girls who traveled to South Africa. Fodoup was a standout player with 5 points, 7 defensive rebounds, 2 offensive rebounds, 2 turnovers and 8 steals. Michelle Samudzimu also shone with 7 points, 3 turnovers, 1 assist and 1 steal. Chisipite returns to Zimbabwe tomorrow, confident of facing the season ahead.