Home|Sports|Visiting Columbia team wins Thanksgiving tournamentSports
The Nassau GuardianSend an emailNovember 29, 2022 122 2 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email
High school basketball is in full effect in the nation’s second city as the William Dale Burns Thanksgiving Basketball Tournament wrapped up over the weekend at the St. George’s High School Gymnasium in Freeport, Grand Bahama.
Winning the title was the Columbia High School Eagles out of DeKalb County, Georgia, USA. They defeated the Sunland Baptist Stingers, 72-66, in the championship game on Saturday.
Tournament Most Valuable Player (MVP) Rashad Hedges led the way for Columbia with a game-high 24 points. Donnell Basden led the Stingers with 15.
The defensive player of the tournament was Terrell Wright from Columbia and the coach of the tournament was Dr. Phil McClary, also of Columbia.
The Tabernacle Baptist Christian Academy Falcons knocked off the St. George’s Jaguars in the bronze medal game, winning 15-13. In other consolation games, Louise McDonald out of Bimini, defeated the Eight Mile Rock Blue Jays, 53-49, and the Brainerd High School
Panthers out of Chattanooga, Tennessee, got past the Jack Hayward High School Wildcats, 43-35.
The All-Tournament Team is inclusive of Donovan Thomas of Brainerd, Donnell Basden and Teano Roberts from Sunland, Aiden Miller out of Tabernacle, Desmond Hall Jr. from Jack Hayward High, Leon Evans of St. George’s, Derek Francis representing Louise McDonald, and Trevian Callaway, MVP Rashad Hedges and defensive player of the tournament Terrell Wright, all from Columbia.
According to one of the organizers Ozzie Simmons, there are six American teams confirmed for Thanksgiving 2023.
Also coming out of Grand Bahama, the first ever Northern Bahamas High School Volleyball Championships is set for this weekend, Thursday to Saturday at the St. George’s Gymnasium.
A total of four girls teams and two boys teams out of Abaco will head to Grand Bahama to play teams out of Grand Bahama for the Northern Bahamas Volleyball Championships.
Tournament organizers will be honoring two former national team players in Arnold Ferguson from Grand Bahama and Cedric Ferguson out of Abaco.
The Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture in conjunction with the Sports Unit of the Ministry of Education & Technical & Vocational Training, the Grand Bahama Secondary Schools Athletic Association (GBSSAA) and the Abaco Schools Sports Association will host the event this weekend.
It will be held under the motto of ‘Up North with Sports’.
The participating schools in the girls division will be Forest Heights, Agape Christian, SC Bootle and PJ Bethel out of Abaco, and Sunland Baptist, Bishop Michael Eldon, Tabernacle, Lucaya International School and Eight Mile Rock from Grand Bahama.
In the boys division, the participating schools will be Agape Christian and PJ Bethel out of Abaco, and Sunland Baptist, Jack Hayward High, Tabernacle, Lucaya International School, St. George’s and Eight Mile Rock from Grand Bahama.
The tournament is a double elimination one and will conclude Sports Month for the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture.