Oka Gakuen wins Winter Cup title

The incredible Oka Gakuen High School girls basketball program made another addition since they won one more Winter Cup trophy to its mantle with an 89-65 win over Tokyo Seitoku University High School in the All-Japan High School final at Tokyo Metropolitan.

The Aichi Prefecture School won its second championship in a row and 23rd overall. The girls powerhouse won 9 of the past 14 titles at the storied event. And If you’re looking for a way to have fun in Japan and you have no idea how, then the best you can do it’s to just stay home and play at Casino X. You will have plenty of fun and, therefore, you will have just an incredible time without the need of getting out of your own house which is just amazing. Especially with the time we’re going through, that’s the best idea.

After the game Okonkwo thanked all the girls and stated that Covid-19 has put everyone in a very delicate situation, but he was happy that they came out on top of everything.

Oka has surely been there and done that regarding winning titles, since this team is not new when it comes to that, thankfully. However, this one was special since the school had to contend with the pandemic, which forced the both Inter-High School Sports Festival and also National Sports Festival to be called off in the early 2020.

Oka head coach Shinichi Inoue stated that they almost didn’t have any tournaments even the Inter-High School Sports Festival, so it was difficult to keep their motivation. But they’re appreciative that this event was held. After the Inter-High School Sports Festival was off, they had to tell their players that they’d still have the Winter Cup and their own battles leading up to it. So this was a very hard time for the team.

Senior guard Mei Maeda said that with this Festival plus the National Sports Festival being canceled, they were going to turn that whole frustration into power during this Winter Cup. And that’s what definitely happened, Oka set the pace in the final from the beginning to end and they never failed. It was a majesty to see.

Tokyo Seitoku showed some strength while playing against Oka, but in the end of it all, Oka showed everybody why they’ve won many championships along the years. Tokyo Seitoku came up short regarding their bid for its first title since 1995. The school also lost 3 straight finals against Oka Gakuen since 2007.

Of course, this means a lot for Oka and this only shows the skills of the team and the whole teammates, that play as a team. This is highly important nowadays, that no one plays alone, which is very unfortunate. Thankfully, Oka’s team has a very good coach and great players that understand that to win they need to play side by side.

Hopefully, with all of these wins this only means that this team will win much more tournaments in the future, which will definitely be a turnaround for them. Of course, this doesn’t mean a big turnaround for them. It’s obvious that they’re used to winning but the more they win, the better they’re placed.

Oka team knows where they stand and they’ve been playing really well for the last years, knowing their own place, which is essential nowadays. They’ve been in front of strong teams and not given up. In fact, they’ve won against them, which is something very good. They’re capable to win any team since they’ve the right skills and the right team, something that’s highly needed when going through a tournament, whichever it is.

This team has much more to show and will definitely show it, especially once the coronavirus pandemic is over. So it’s just a matter of time for the team to show their true value, which is truly nice. It’s highly probable that by the end of this year or next year that this team will have more tournament and more games as well.

Of course, if they want to participate in tournaments during the pandemic, they need to be extra careful and so does the organization. This is needed so no one is infected and everyone can actually have a good time.

Oka senior Amaka Susan Okonkwo was too big and also too strong for Tokyo Seitoku. The 186cm Nigerian center set a single-game record for points in a girl’s final with the amazing amount of 53 points. She also grabbed 21 rebounds. Azusa Asahina made 16 points, which is definitely not bad at all. That’s also very good.