Tri-Cities Basketball: Nothing but Net

On December 2nd, both the AISG boys’ and girls’ varsity basketball team traveled to Shanghai American School of Pudong (SASPD) to compete in the annual Tri-Cities tournament. The two other schools which competed against our Rams included Shanghai American School of Puxi (SASPX), and Western Academy of Beijing (WAB).

The girls’ had a rough start to the tournament playing both the SAS teams on the first day. Our girls played SASPX first, the second place team of last years’ Super APAC tournament (Our girls came in 4th out of 12th last year!). Halfway through the first game, the girls’ coach, Corey Kydd, had to go back to Guangzhou because of family emergencies. The girls had to take initiatives knowing that would be what their coach would have wanted to see. Unfortunately, the girls lost to SASPX. This did not bring their determination, energy or motivation down for their second game against SASPD. During their second game, Phillip Renfrow stepped in and coached the girls. Despite their best effort to stick to their true philosophies while adapting to a new coach, they were unable to defeat SASPD. On Day 2, the girls maintained high spirits going in their game for 3rd place against WAB. The game initially started very slowly, and baskets weren’t falling. The girls soon picked up their pace, playing harder and proving their determination to win. The girls played WAB again in the afternoon. With the same strategies and mindset, the girls were able to secure their 3rd place standing. Despite the bumpy tournament the girls had, they did not lose confidence, hope, and faith. They stayed true to their philosophies, played their hardest, and overcame challenges as a team.

On the other hand, our boys played SASPX and WAB on the first day. This was the boys’ first tournament without last year’s senior players. The boys were fully aware of this but still managed to push hard against SASPX. It was very unfortunate that the boys ended up losing to SASPX. Carrying this first loss, the boys played a better game in game 2, and eventually, were able to beat WAB. This placed AISG in a very good position in the tournament, placing our boys’ team against SASPD next. The boys stepped on the court with a lot of pressure, knowing the game would either place them into the 3v4 game or the championships. Sadly, the boys were not able to beat SASPD forcing them to play WAB again later in the 3v4 game. Knowing how WAB played, the boys went into the game prepared. Playing with the same mindset, tenacity, and speed, the boys easily beat WAB and secured 3rd place.

Although the outcome of the tournament was not the most desirable, the boys now know how to prepare for their upcoming tournaments, APAC and GISAC. APAC will be in Vietnam and will take place from January 22nd to the 26th.