​March madness at St Columba's College

It was March madness at St Columba's College in St Albans when the Senior School Basketball teams reached the final stages of several big tournaments at once.

The U13s, U14s, U15s, U16s and U18s SCC Basketball teams all competed in the Hertfordshire County Cup finals, which were held in Coindre Hall at St Columba's.

On Monday 21 March, Sandringham School claimed the U14s County title in a close match against St Columba's, 76-70. The St Columba's U16s then won their game against Beaumont School 81-64 to claim the County Cup.

It was another night of great basketball on the Wednesday with Sandringham U13s winning the first game against St Columba's. Then the St Columba's U15s team beat Beaumont to claim the title in the next game.

In the final game of the evening, a buzzer beater from Beaumont gave them a win against the St Columba's U18 team.

Adam Lowles, Director of Basketball at St Columba's, congratulated all his players: "This is the first time in six years SCC Basketball is back to having all teams in the county finals. What was once the norm has not happened for a while, so it is great that we're back to this level.

"After three years of not being able to play the county finals at St Columba's due to Covid it was great to see and hear the hall full again for the Finals Week. More than 150 people in the hall each night saw five games of very close basketball, some games even going down to the final shot. The hard work of the St Columba's teams is testament to the hard work on and off the court the boys have put in since September.

The week before, the St Columba's College U17s reached the quarter-finals of the Dynamik National Schools Competition, narrowly losing to Northampton School for Boys.

The basketball action doesn't stop there for the St Columba's College teams -- the U12s and U13s are through to the last 16 of the National Jr. NBA Competition, with games in the knock-out stages scheduled for after Easter.

The independent co-ed Catholic school in St Albans has a long and illustrious tradition of playing basketball reaching back to its earliest days. In 1955 the Brothers of the Sacred Heart acquired St Columba's College from its founder Mr O'Neill and brought their love of basketball over from the US. In Coindre Hall they constructed a state of the art basketball court with sprung wooden floor and barrel-vaulted roof.