Butere Girls will this afternoon face Kaya Tiwi in a high-octane encounter at the Brookside Kenya Secondary School Sports Association (KSSA) Term 1 basketball finals at Shimo la Tewa grounds, as the defending champions from the Western Region look to stamp their dominance against the Coastal giants and book a ticket to the East African Games.

En route to the finals, the Western Region powerhouse edged out Nairobi Region champions Olympic after a resounding 63-35 win, while Kaya Tiwi beat St Joseph 60-42 to book a final spot in the high-stakes school games.

Butere had made their intentions of retaining the cup clear from the jump with a convincing 11-6 win in the first quarter, before maintaining the lead with a resounding 20-7 win in the second quarter to ensure they went into the breather with a clear advantage.

Upon resumption, the Nairobi champions grew more confident and started firing from all cylinders and could have narrowly won the third quarter, but Butere were not leaving anything to chance as they retaliated with force to ensure the set ended in a 14-14 draw, before putting the game to rest in the fourth quarter with a hard-fought 18-8 victory that catapulted them into the finals today.

Butere’s head coach Sylvester Ndidi, commonly referred to as ‘Sly’, stated they are here to retain the cup and represent the country in the East African games.

“Today, we are going for nothing short of a win. We have played the opponents before and we know we are capable of beating them,” quipped Ndidi.
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His captain, Yvonne Sheril, acknowledged their preparedness as the main ingredient for the win, stating the finals is just another match shy of the East Africa games.

“Mentally and physically, we came into this match prepared. It was a very stiff competition as our challengers (Olympic) had put up a spirited fight, but we managed to beat them. At the beginning, the weather was not favouring us but now that we have acclimatised, we are sure of a win against the region champions. Our aim today is to put our best foot forward and ensure we win,” noted Sheril.