When St. Joseph’s Girls School, Nugegoda, begin their next year’s basketball campaign, they will miss one face, who dominated the local school basketball arena during the last four years. She led her school team, St. Joseph’s Girls School, to a higher position during her stint as a player. Solangei Gunawijeya is her name and she finished her school basketball career on a winning note. She was instrumental in winning the Under-19 basketball title for her school at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, last week.

"I did my best to school and now I hope to do something good for my country through basketball," said Solange Gunawijeya during an interview with ‘Sunday Island - Sportstar’ recently.

Solangei, 19, is the only player to represent the National Team while playing for her school team. She started representing the National Team four years ago when she was playing for her Under-15 school team. She has represented Sri Lanka for the last four years uninterruptedly.

When Solangei was only ten, she commenced her sports career with netball and later switched to basketball. However, she continued to play netball due a request made by a basketball player at that time.

She later represented the Sri Lanka netball team in a few overseas championships.

Having qualified for this year’s Under-19 Schools Basketball Final without a defeat, the Josephian lasses finished off their campaign in style beating Sirimavo Bandaranaike Vidyalaya, Colombo, 61 to 47 in the grand final.

St. Joseph’s won four matches in the first round and three in the second to secure their semi-final spot against Holy Family Convent, Kurunegala.

On the other hand, Sirimavo also had a good run in the tournament as they also qualified for the final unbeaten. But they had to settle down themselves being the runners-up in the tourney, due to the performance of Solangei as she top scored with 33 points. She was adjudged the Best Player of the final.

"As the captain of the team, I am satisfied with my performances and the team’s effort. We took game by game and played rather positively throughout the tournament. The credit must go to our coach, Ajith Kuruppu and the Teacher-in-charge, Chandani Gunawardena alongside our school staff for assisting us throughout the tournament," said an elated Solangei about this year’s Under-19 Basketball Tournament.

Solangei, who has captained her School team from Under-15 to Under-19 have guided her school team to greater heights including Overall Championships at number of occasions, winning Special Awards as well.