The SEISA Kokusai Shonan Women's Basketball Team was officially established in 2019, starting with one member in 2018. The first captain of the SEISA Women's Basketball Team will graduate from SEISA this spring and go on to university. The SEISA Women's Basketball Team is now led by third-year students, who will join the team in 2019.

In the quarterfinals of the Kanagawa Inter-High School Preliminary Round on Saturday, June 19th, 2021, the team beat the powerful Hakuho Girl’s 81-77 to advance to the final league. This was the first time for the team to reach the final four. The final league started with a match against Kugenuma High School. The team was trailing from the first half and had a tough time, but they persevered and gradually regained the lead, and were up by 3 points until the last few seconds, but came up just short. We are looking forward to the remaining two games in the next week.

SEISA students, teachers and staff across the country were moved and encouraged by the efforts of these students, who continue to carve out a new path in the history of SEISA, while keeping in mind the wishes of those who dug the well. We look forward to your support.

The following is a comment from Director Harada. Please take a look.

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On Saturday, June 19, the quarterfinals of the Kanagawa Prefectural High School Athletic Meet were held at the Ogino Sports Park Gymnasium in Atsugi. Our opponent was Hakuho Girls High School, the fourth seed in the prefecture. Hakuho has two international students, 185cm and 190cm, who are overwhelmingly strong on the inside and rebounding. The challenge was how to defend these two (actually on the court1).

We had been practicing for two weeks with the goal of separating the foreign students from the rest of the team and keeping three of them close to us, since we knew that they would not be able to shoot from the outside. We also practiced the zone offense thoroughly against the zone defense that would take advantage of their height. This tactic paid off, and from the first quarter we were able to maintain a lead of around 15 points. The first half ended with a score of 49-34.

In the third quarter, the opposing team's outside corner started to come in, and foreign students started to score as well. The score was tied at 58-58 at the end of the quarter. The fourth quarter was a back-and-forth affair, and with the score tied at 77-77 with one minute remaining, Watanabe (18) took the lead with a basket count while being fouled in the goal, eventually winning the game 81-77. With this win, the team advanced to the final four.

On June 20th (Sunday), the final league started with the four best schools. Due to seeding, the first game was against Kugenuma High School, the champion of the Kanto preliminary round. We will have to play hard on defense to make sure we get a good shot. We instructed the team to protect their ace, but their defense was half-hearted and they shot from the outside, leading 5-21 in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, we regained our composure and got as close as 17-27 at the end of the quarter. In the third quarter, we suffered some injuries and had to fight hard to take the lead, 35-49. In the final quarter, we pushed hard with our strong defense and got within 3 points with 2 minutes left. We felt the students' spirit, but in the end, we lost by 5 points, 53-58.

We lost by five points, 53-58. We lost 42-68 in the quarterfinals of the Spring Kanto Tournament, and I think our attitude of trying to hang on is a sign of growth. We will play the remaining two games on June 26th (Sat.) and 27th (Sun.) to the best of our ability and aim to participate in the Inter-High School Tournament.