THE Grammar School girls’ basketball team have been crowned the best under-19 school side in the country. The Kath Guille-coached outfit defeated King Edward VII School from Melton in the semi-finals before meeting Devon’s Queen Elizabeth II College in the final of the Under-19 National Schools Cup in Birmingham at the weekend. The Sarnians won 59-53 to lift the trophy.

‘It was excellent – I don’t think a school in Guernsey has ever won a national competition,’ said Guille.

‘To win at that level puts Guernsey on the map. A lot of people took notice.’

In a very tense final, Grammar had to come from behind to take the honours. The pressure in the final quarter was almost too much for Guille and the school’s head of PE, Dave Legg.

‘Mr Legg got quite emotional and with 40 seconds left he had to walk away because we realised we had won it,’ she said.

‘And there’s me seven months pregnant and I had to keep calm. I was getting pains.’

Captain Kerri Brown was the leading scorer for the Guernsey team as she notched up 20 points in both matches.

‘We’re ecstatic, it was amazing’ she said.

‘We worked really hard and it’s the best team we’ve had for so long. We worked for each other and that was why we won it.

‘I’m so proud of the team.’

In their semi-final with King Edward VII, the Sarnians started off at a terrific pace scoring 22 to seven in the opening quarter. This formed the basis of their victory as they ran home winners 59-34.

‘We ripped them apart in the first quarter,’ said Guille.

‘We started really well and that was the best they’ve ever played in that first quarter.’

In the other semi-final Queen Elizabeth II defeated Danum College from Doncaster and the Devon school carried their form into the final against Grammar as they took the first quarter 18-9.

Grammar had other problems as Emma Hicks found herself in foul trouble with four fouls early on. Brown soon joined her on four fouls and Guille decided to rest them to guard against them being fouled out.