PETERS EXPLODES FOR 42, LEADS KNIGHTS TO FINALS

By Jay Leon Guerrero

The Guam Basketball Confederation’s Girls High School Basketball League playoffs continued on Friday the 13th with the final four taking place at St. John’s and Academy. The top two seeds both advanced to set up a showdown scheduled for Monday night.

The St. John’s Knights defeated a scrappy St. Paul Warriors team 73-56 behind an amazing 63% shooting from the field to stamp their ticket to the championship game to be played at the UOG Calvo Field House. The Knights avenged their only loss of the season against the Warriors.

The 2nd-seed Academy Cougars defeated the JFK Islanders 53-21 at the Academy gym. The Cougars came out roaring in their semifinal matchup, starting the game with a 15-0 lead.

The Knights and Cougars enter the game with identical 12-1 records. Expect some good basketball Monday with both teams hungry to cut down the nets.

Peters nearly triple-doubles
The Knights’ Jia Peters had another strong performance to lead St John’s with 42 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists. The junior star was lights out, hitting 17 of her 24 field goal attempts, including 4-for-6 from 3-point land.

“Having the home court advantage tonight made the team feel more comfortable,” said Peters. “On Monday, we are going to keep doing what we do: stay strong in the post and grab rebounds.”

Peters said the Cougars would come back stronger, so her team needs to be more focused. “We need to be better on championship night and limit our turnovers,” said Peters.

It was just one week ago that St. John’s stole the top seed from Academy with a big win on the Cougars home court on the last day of the regular season.

Sazzanei Quintanilla and Kimora Charfauros led the Warriors early and took a 17-16 lead in a high scoring opening quarter. Peters quickly countered with a steal that led to an uncontested lay-in and later drained a three-pointer to go ahead 24-17 after the first quarter.

The Knights never looked back despite some spurts from the Warriors. Quintanilla and guard Ryanna Ngirchomlei got their deficit to single digits in the third quarter, but the Knights countered with interior defense and second chance points.

Amara Del Carmen had another big game with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Del Carmen shot 8-for-12 from the field and was the recipient of highlight passes from Peters.

“Amara and I have that chemistry. We’ve been together since grade school,” said Peters. Freshman center Zoe Whitehead had seven points, 13 rebounds, and two blocks for the Knights.

It was a different story from their regular season matchup in which St. Paul easily cruised by St. John’s, frustrating the Knights with its patented pressure defense. Not only did the Knights shoot the lights out, they also outrebounded the Warriors 42-17.

Quintanilla led the Warriors with 24 points and five steals. Charfauros chipped in 12 points for St. Paul. The Warriors will face the JFK Islanders in the consolation game at 5:30 pm at UOG.

The headliner will be the Knights and Cougars. The Cougars are looking for revenge after suffering their only loss of the season to the Knights.

“It’s going to be an equal match up. We are going to stick to the same game plan, but if they come out with different strategies, I’m confident my dad (coach Fred Peters) will prepare us for that. “

For the first time in a dozen years, the Knights will be heading the girls’ high school basketball championship game. Back in 2012, St. John’s had a pair of freshmen phenoms named Destiny Castro and Kali Benavente. The Knights lost the championship game to none other than – the Cougars.

Will history repeat itself, or will the Knights make history? See you on Monday! 

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