Staff writer Abyan Memon provides a blow-by-blow account of an extremely close 2025 Women’s Basketball Varsity game.
| Women’s Basketball (KCL – UCL) | |||
| Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 |
| 20 – 13 | 49 – 42 | 73 – 59 | 91 – 86 |
Play-by-play
UCL open the scoring first and pour in a quick dozen points. KCL keep it close with hustle plays on defence and transition layups. Goretti Hurtado Barbeito (#4) hits a timely three and KCL takes lead 13-12. Barbeito was a UCL student last year and competed for them in the 2024 Basketball Varsity, making her impressive performance for King’s this year all the more interesting.
KCL turn up the defence, forcing turnovers and locking down shots on the perimeter and at the rim, sending UCL into a scoring drought.
Barbeito and captain Samantha Mark (#13) drown a pair of three-pointers and Barbeito blocks a UCL attempt at the rim. The KCL crowd roars.
Chants of “you lot are boring” come from the KCL crowd; UCL spectators respond by holding up a sign reading ‘UCLREJECTS.COM’.
King’s open the second quarter by continuing their scoring barrage from behind the arc and inside the paint. Barbeito continues to hit big outside shots.
KCL’s scoring sparks UCL as they turn up on offense. Both crowds rock the stands as both teams trade timely shots, shifting momentum back and forth in a quarter characterised by high scoring offenses.
This offense-heavy theme carries into the third quarter as both teams trade shots on high percentage shooting.
Barbeito sinks an electrifying and-1 while falling and the crowd rains down MVP chants as she steps to the free throw line.
The fourth quarter opens with more exciting shots from Barbeito as she drains a three-point bank-shot and hits a shrug to celebrate. She returns with yet another three, this time getting the bounce off the rim, and hits the shrug again. KCL lead 81-59.
With a late surge of three-pointers, UCL cut the lead to 87-76 with 3 minutes left in the game. King’s call a timeout, but UCL keep scoring as KCL falter, failing to convert shots.
Barbeito comes in clutch with the and-1 to end KCL’s scoring drought. More thunderous MVP chants rain down as she sinks free throws. 90-79 to King’s, 1:11 on the clock.
A final barrage from UCL: shooting guard Nicole Clancy hits a trick shot layup; UCL block a perimeter shot; both teams hit free throws. UCL hit a three-pointer to cut their deficit to 6 points. The score is 91-85 with 11.8 seconds left.
King’s miss 4 consecutive free throws but UCL let up an offensive rebound, and with the clock running out, they miss a crucial three-pointer at the buzzer to lose the game. KCL win the 2025 Women’s Basketball Varsity 91-86.
Post-Game Reactions
ROAR asked the KCL crowd which player performances stood out. Goretti Hurtado Barbeito was the favourite, with her many momentum-shifting plays on both ends of the floor. This included two big three-pointers to start the fourth quarter and the and-1 play to end KCL’s fourth quarter scoring drought. Spectators also mentioned Samantha Mark for a similar performance of big time three-pointers and crowd-erupting blocks, along with her leadership on the court providing the energy when the team needed it.
ROAR approached captain Samantha Mark after the game for a post-game interview. “In the first quarter we started pressing, and that was a little bit tricky because we don’t usually press. It was a little bit of an adjustment. When we got into halfcourt and we kind of got back into what we do, our familiarity was there.”
Mark applauded Barbeito for her valuable performance all season: “She’s our MVP, she’s fantastic – we’re so lucky we got her. She was at UCL last year, but she’s doing her PhD here now, so we’ve got her next year as well. She’s an amazing asset to the team.”
What gave the team motivation to keep fighting against UCL’s late push? “It’s our coach’s last game after 10 years at King’s. We wanted to win for him. This will be the third Varsity in a row that we’ve won. To be honest we were quite irritated with how the fouls were going, so we were not gonna let them win after that.”
KCL Women’s Basketball have successfully defended their Varsity title for another year. ROAR looks forward to another thrilling game in 2026!
