High School Basketball WAISAL Recap

It’s time to take a look back at the high school basketball WAISAL tournament that took place in Dakar, Senegal, as it recently came to an end.

Expectations were high, as stated by the girl’s team captain, Orsanne Dehem. “My expectations were for my team to win first place.” Also, as the boys’ team captain, Omar Ba stated, “Before going into a tournament as the captain you’re supposed to have an objective to win the tournament. That was our number one expectation.” 

Day 1: Panthers Arrive at the International School of Dakar

On a very windy and sunny morning, the Panthers arrived for their first day of high school basketball with only one thing on their minds- winning. After home bases were set, and team photos were taken, it was time for the opening ceremony.

The ceremony consisted of the introduction of all participating schools along with traditional Senegalese music and performances. ICSA boys had to leave early as they were playing one of the two first games of the tournament. 

The anticipation was high as the boys prepared to face their first challenge, Lincoln Community School. Both teams fought hard with the fear of losing their first game of the tournament. At the end of the day, the boys ended up the victors with a crushing 37-15 win. 

The girls had their first match right after the boys also against Lincoln. It was a thrilling game, and it ended with a 23-5 victory. Their second game was against Al-Rayan International School. The girls played great basketball, but unfortunately they lost in a rather close 18-22 game. 

To end the day off the boys played against the American School of Douala who seemed to be their toughest opponents yet. It was a steady back and forth game, but a three pointer hit in the final seconds sealed the game for ASD, which was a very disappointing 18-19 loss for the boys.

Day 2: Tensions were High

To start the day, the Panthers took a symbolic lap around the school and received some words of advice from the sporting director, Mr Peyron. This may have calmed the nerves of the players going into their games.

The boys played their first match against ISD’s B team. They came up on top with a  smooth 27-14 victory. Some mental preparation was needed for their next game, in which a win was needed for them to advance to the next round of the competition. 

The girls’ first match of the day was one they would want to forget, but also learn a lot from. They played against the ASD girls, which seemed to be the strongest team in the tournament up to that point. It was a crushing 9-20 defeat for the girls.

“I would have tried to remain proud of myself rather than being upset because sometimes it brought the team spirit down.”

-Orsanne Dehem, 12th Grade Captain

It is clear that the girls needed to keep their heads up and stay positive going into their next match. The captain of the girls team explains this well by reflecting on that defeat. 

The boys played in what could be their best game of the tournament thus far against the American International School of Lagos. The school had the killer duo of twins Zack and Zane, but the strong defense and even better offense the boys displayed was enough to secure a blowout victory of 41-17. 

The final game for the Panthers came yet again for the girls, who faced off against the International School of Ouagadougou. It seemed like the girls bounced back from their previous defeat in what was a very physical game that ended with a 23-13 victory.

The Panthers leave the campus looking forward to the last day of the tournament, in which both the boys and girls will be facing very tough opponents in the semis.

Day 3: Final Day of the Tournament

Tensions were high as the boys played their first game of the last day against their toughest opponents yet, the International School of Dakar.  The boys gave it their all, but sometimes even that isn’t enough. They faced a 14-28 defeat to ISD. Like the coach said, it was a battle of men versus boys, with ICSA being the latter. 

The girls had their semifinals match right after against the American International School of Abuja. Some may view this as the most interesting game of the tournament. There were a number of lead changes in the game, but unfortunately AISA got the last laugh with a 13-16 victory. 

Both boys and girls ended up with an impressive third place finish. The boys got a chance to get revenge on ASD, which they succeeded in doing with a blowout victory. The girls played and won against ISD girls for that third place trophy, which is positive way for the Panthers to end things off.