DEFENDING champions The Queen’s School will be on the hunt to capture the double for a second consecutive year as the 2013 ISSA/Digicel Urban Area High Schoolgirls Junior and Senior League finals will be played this afternoon at the Leila Robinson Courts.

Queen’s will first go up against first-time finalist Tarrant High at 4:00 in the Junior League final, while they oppose former many-time champions St Hugh’s High in the Senior League final scheduled to begin at 4:45.

Having not lost a match this season in both the Junior and Senior League competitions, the Marvette Anderson-coached Queen’s will be looking to repeat their unbeaten run from last year.

However, Queen’s will be up against St Hugh’s who have won the Senior League many times and expect to be pushed to the limit by the Roy Pryce-coached aggregation. The defending champions will also be coming into the final with a 39-32 win over St Hugh’s, their only defeat of the season.

The Junior League final could end in a one-sided affair between the defending champions and Tarrant coached by Cecile Knight. They were brushed aside by Queen’s 32-8 in the semi-final round.

Coach Knight needs to find a strategy that can break the momentum and scoring of her opponents to have a real chance of securing victory. If Tarrant fail to contain Queen’s quick attacking plays, particularly from the centre court, they could find themselves receiving another drubbing by the champions.

In the shooting departments, Queen’s will have Simone Gordon and Shanique Francis, while Tarrant’s shooters, Akalia Ferrigon and Tajay Lalor, will need to get their shots inside, along with supporting roles from their teammates to put themselves in winning contention as the match progresses.

Tarrant’s coach Knight said the team would be making a supreme effort. “Despite losing 32-8 to Queen’s, the players are nevertheless looking to upset the defending champions with a much-improved performance today.”

Meanwhile, the match of the afternoonwill no doubt be the hotly contested showdown between Queen’s and St Hugh’s, as it promises to be action-filled from start to finish, with attacking plays, defensive tactics and accurate shooting from both ends.

Anderson and Pryce are expected to come into this match full of confidence as both will be seeking glory for their respective schools.

Anderson said that it should be another keenly contested match: “I don’t expect St Hugh’s to sit back and allow us to control the match. They will be coming up fighting and we have to fight it all the way as we did in our previous meeting.”

Meanwhile, Pryce is looking for a top-class performance from St Hugh’s. Today might just be his day, if the players stick to his instructions and in the process produce the goods.

“I think we have a pretty good chance of beating Queen’s. We are going out there to play our usual game and I hope the girls can pull it off,” Pryce said.

Both teams have good shooters and will be relying heavily on them to accomplish victory today. Queen’s will be banking on shooters Shanice Beckford and Khadijah Williams — two national senior players — to do the job, while St Hugh’s looks to Kadie-Ann Dunkley and Jenella Jones to upset the reigning champions and claim another hold on the title.

Centre court play is also one of the key factors, as the team taking control of this position could end up victorious. The champions will have Abigail Ferron, Priscilla Thomas and Amanda Dawkins, while St Hugh’s trio should be Sacha-Lee Harris, Titanya Blackstock and Tanya Ricketts to make things hard for them.

Meanwhile, the third and fourth places in the Junior and Senior Leagues will be played at the same time, starting at 3:00. Norman Manley High will oppose Camperdown High in the Juniors, while St Andrew High and Holy Childhood High will contest the Seniors.