MANDEVILLE, Manchester — St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) showed lots of mental toughness in shaking off a injury sustained to their top defender minutes before half time to cop their third successive title in the ISSA/KFC Central Conference Schoolgirl Basketball title at Belair High on Thursday.

The Desmond Taylor-coached team cruised to a massive 73-29 win over Glenmuir High despite playing most of the game without defender Rochelle Reid, who in her attempt to thwart a counter-attacking play, slipped and injured her right thigh.

Play stopped for more than 40 minutes with STETHS leading 25-14 as Reid, who also placed third in the Class One high jump at this year’s ISSA/GraceKennedy Girls’ Athletic Championships, was rushed to hospital where she received emergency treatment, while both teams comforted each other in a huddle.

National Basketball co-ordinator, Alf Remikie, who transported Reid to the hospital, was unable up to the end of the game to say how serious an injury it was. He said an X-ray will be done to determine the nature of the injury, but assured that she was responding well to medical treatment.

Meanwhile, Shanice Smith led the way for STETHS with a game-high 47 points and seven rebounds, while Cadeen McLean supported well with 17 points.

Sherona Forrester was Glenmuir’s best player shooting 23 points with nine steals and five rebounds, despite not playing to her full potential.

STETHS, as expected by many, dominated the entire proceeding, recovering from a slow start to take the first quarter 12-10.

Glenmuir, who were returning to schoolgirl basketball after a four-year hiatus, was first out of the blocks in the second quarter as Forrester levelled the scores at 12-12 with a two-pointer.

STETHS, however, steadied their nerves to shoot five consecutive baskets and opened up a nine-point lead (21-12) which they extended to 16 (33-17) at half time.

And rather than dropping their chins after witnessing their teammate picking up a nasty injury, the girls from Santa Cruz held their heads high to hammer Glenmuir in the second half.

They won the third quarter 16-6 for a lead of 26 (49-23) before closing out the game with a 24-6 run in the final quarter.

Conroy Grindley, STETHS assistant coach, thought his team did well to recover from the injury to Reid and defend their title.

“Although we had an injury to a main player, the girls came and played well to defend the title and we are hoping to maintain it next year,” he said, noting that they are looking to go all the way in the national play-offs.

Glenmuir’s Orlando Brown had nothing but praise for his team. “I’m really proud of the guys (because) many persons never expected us to reach this far seeing that we were out of female basketball for the past four seasons, but we have been working hard since January,” he said.

At the awards ceremony that followed, STETHS also stole the show by taking six of the nine prizes up for grabs.

McLean was the darling of the evening being named the league’s Most Valuable Player after earlier picking up awards for the most assists and block shots.

Her teammate, Smith took home trophies for the most points scored in the regular season and for being best free-thrower, while Taylor walked away with the top-coach award.

Manchester High’s Shaquina Francis was also a double winner (most rebounds and steals), as Forrester of Glenmuir was the best three-point shooter.

Both teams will now go on to represent the Central Conference in the national play-off set to tip off next week.