Against considerable odds, St. Mary High School pushed their way into the quarter-finals of TVJ's Schools' Challenge Quiz by defeating Wolmer's Girls 30-19.

"We're overwhelmed; it's been a long while since we reached this far; we have a great coach and a wonderful team," Petronecia McBean, captain of the St. Mary High team, told THE STAR.

Peter Samaroo, St. Mary's coach, praised his players for keeping a level head even though they were trailing after the first segment. "It was a good match; we started out a little slow, but we picked up the pace and got the job done. Hats off to the players, it was a good game."

At the end of the first round, it seemed the Wolmer's Girls team had a working game plan. The segment ended 10 - 6 in favour of Wolmer's.

The second section saw St. Mary fighting their way back into the match, and at the end of that segment, finding themselves up by one point. Wolmer's added five points to their tally after the first minute, while St. Mary added six points to their tally. For some reason or another, both teams managed to gain few points during their second minute. Wolmer's gained only two points while St. Mary gained only three points. Going into the third and final minute of segment two, St. Mary was now trailing 17-15. The Wolmer's team tried to keep their lead, however, answering four questions correctly was not enough.

More points

Those four correct answers meant that Wolmer's now had 21 points. The St. Mary team was not to be forgotten, as they amassed 7 points to their previous 15, which gave them a total of 22 points and the lead going into the third and final section of the match.

The buzzer section proved to be just that; as both teams buzzed in on seven questions. However, Wolmer's did very little to improve on their point tally. As a matter of fact nothing was done as they finished with a final score of 19 points.

St. Mary, on the other hand, answered five questions correctly and two questions incorrectly, thus bringing them to a final score of 30 points.

Coach of the Wolmer's team, Paul Thomas, blamed a hectic day for their loss. "We had a rough day. The girls were coming out of a scholarship exam. The girls played well though, and as usual we'll be back," he said.

Members of the Wolmer's team are: Jameika Jackson (captain), Saunja Murray, Latoya Lumsden, Renee McDonald.

Members of the St. Mary team are: Petronecia McBean (captain), Javon Angus, Sue-Ann Leith, Norman Israel.