MONTEGO BAY, St James — MT Alvernia High School turned in a balanced performance on Monday to beat defending champions and favourites Spot Valley High 48-38 to be crowned champions of the ISSA Western Conference high school girls’ basketball competition at the Montego Bay Cricket Club.

In the first game of the double- header, last year’s beaten finalists, William Knibb Memorial, rallied late to overcome a double -digit deficit and beat Muschett High 28-26 in the third-place play-off.

In what is believed to be the Montego Bay school’s first sports title in decades, they outplayed the Spot Valley team that had beaten them twice in the regular season.

Both finalists will advance to Saturday’s national play-offs at Belair High School in Manchester.

Meanwhile, in Monday’s final, while Spot Valley High relied exclusively on just two players- Lanacha Smith and Tasha Harris- to score for them, Mt Alvernia had at least six players contributing points, while three made major points contributions.

Smith led all scorers with 27 points and Harris got the other 11 points, while Tara-Gay Heaven was the top scorer for Mt Alvernia High with 19 points, nine rebounds and four steals; Sche-Schegena Dell scored 15 points, while Shaneray Wilkins scored eight points and had seven rebounds, before fouling out with two and half minutes to go with her team up by 10 points.

After trailing briefly in the first quarter, Mt Alvernia High took over the lead when Cheryl-Lee Reid scored a lay-up as time ran out at the end of the first quarter giving them a 10-9 advantage.

The Montego Bay school extended their lead to double figures outscoring Spot Valley High 10-2 to start the second quarter, but a 9-1 rally restored Spot Valley’s lead 21-20 at half-time.

Mt Alvernia then adjusted at half-time, tightening the defence on Smith and it paid off as they outscored Spot Valley 16-9 in the quarter to lead 36-30 going into the fourth quarter.

Wilkins, who was assigned to guard Smith, however, picked up three fouls in the period, but she managed to play the first seven plus minutes of the fourth quarter giving her team a double- digit lead before watching from the bench, as they held on for the win.