Sneakers will be laced, uniforms handed out and the lockers at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall transformed into the home of two of the most powerful basketball teams in Guyana tonight for game one of a three-game series.
Tonight is the night they have been preparing for. It is Linden vs Georgetown in the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF)/Wildfire Productions inter-association basketball tournament.
While all the pre-competition hype and talk will be on pause, the Linden Amateur Basketball Association (LABA) anticipates a clean sweep and the Georgetown Amateur Basketball Associa-tion (GABA) said they are the superior team.
There is only one way to find out and settle the long-standing rivalry in local basketball between Georgetown and Linden; that is to have the two teams meet for three games in Linden and Georgetown.
The players will hardly be given a ‘breather’ as they travel to Linden tomorrow night for game two at the McKenzie Hard Court. Game three is scheduled for next Saturday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
Thousands of fans from the garden city and the mining town are expected to congregate at the venues to support their respective team. The event is being staged to raise funds for the participation of Guyana’s national team at the Caribbean championships.
The series will bring together Guyana’s best female and male players. The stakes are very high, offering the players a chance to represent Guyana in Puerto Rico in August.
Georgetown’s shooting guard, Stephon Gillis, answered the call for his team two weeks ago when he led Courts Pacesetters to a historic win over Linden’s Kings in the nationwide first division tournament.
Can Gillis produce the same energy, quickness and sharp shooting for the Georgetown team? Can his teammates in the shooting guard position, Kevin Lawrence and Bevaun Gordon step up to the ‘big’ Linden defence.
There is no doubt that Georgetown will look for huge nights from Gillis, forward Royston Siland and centre Darren Thomas. Top Georgetown guards Darcel Harris and Darren Gordon will be playing together for the first time in their careers.
Kester Gomes and Fabian Johnson will assist the guards on offence and defence as the players look to rotate steals and block shots. The Georgetown side is extremely talented on paper but tonight will decide if this is also true on the court.
Linden has already expressed confidence in its backcourt, Jason Alonzo and Alwyn Wilson. President of the association, Colin Aaron admitted to having some work cut out for the team in the frontcourt.
Anson Durant, Neil Simon, Julius Gardner and Nevin Grenville were among the players named for the team’s frontcourt offence and defence. Durant is the leader among them; his exploits in Linden are well known but can he bring that ‘game’ to ‘GT’?
As was the case in the nation-wide first division final between Linden’s Kings and Georgetown’s Pacesetters, shooting guard Marvin Hartman is expected to employ heroics from ‘downtown’ to rival Gillis.
The players in both the male and female championships will be under the watchful eyes of the national selectors but that will become secondary to the town vs town challenge expected in the series.
The Linden female team includes Nichola Jacobs, Kean Fredricks, Althea Byass, Jasmin Pellew, Bobby Bowman, Tiana Badley, Sonia Rodney, Ayana McRae, Kinani Fyffe and Mourice Skeete.
The Linden female team’s official staff includes Manager Beverly McDonald, Coach Ashton Angel Jr., Assistant Coach Claude Williams and Technical Advisor Abdullah Hamid.
The Georgetown female team includes Natasha Alder, Amera Alphonso, Sophia Elliot, Kean Andrews, Rashawna Quintin, Delicia Mayers, Latoya Hamilton, Tameke DeRouche, Natolia Primo, Karen Norville, Shaneka Atwell, Laurel Anderson, Candacy Atkins, Natolia Bishop and Michela Burnett.
The Georgetown female team’s official staff comprises Head Coach Robert Cadogan, Assistant Coach Phillip George, Assistant Coach Mark Agard and Assistant Coach Lugard Mohan.
