FOR the first time in the history of the annual Doregos Inter-School Basketball Championship, a new girls’ champion has emerged, as Greensprings School dethroned defending champion, International School, Lagos (ISL) in an entertaining final held yesterday in Lagos.

A confident and complacent ISL were dazed few seconds to the end of the match with Mariam Yaro single-handedly inspiring Greensprings to victory.

Apart from winning the tournament for the first time, Greensprings were unbeaten in all their eight matches in the competition. Their determination and never-say-die attitude paid off for them in the explosive final, which thrilled the dignitaries and spectators.

From the start of the encounter, ISL knew the quality of Greensprings and they marked out their star player, Mariam Yaro, but the talent in the 14-year-old Year 10 student could not be caged as she ensured that they took the lead from the first to the third quarters of the match.

But when they were expected to wrap up the game, Greensprings went to sleep, allowing the ISL girls with technical input from Coach Ernest Ijeomah to taake the lead with 16 to 13 points.

However, less than 50 seconds to the end of the match, Yaro proved her worth with four points in succession to hand-over the trophy to Greensprings at 17-16 to the admiration of the fans.

An elated Yaro commended her teammates for not giving up even when their opponents were leading, while hoping to embrace basketball as a career.

In the boys’ category, Airforce defeated Effortswill 35-20 to emerge winner.