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Monday 03rd February 2003 |
The Northants “Lightning” will defend their National Cup title on Saturday 29th March after a battling win over Doncaster “Panthers”. In that Final they will face Ellesmere Port the team they beat in double overtime last year.
This season the Doncaster club decided to play in Division 2 of the senior women’s National League so they presented formidable opposition for the cup holders. It was the “Lightning” who made the more positive start leaping out to a 10-2 but by the end of the first quarter the “Panthers” had closed the gap to 19-16.
In the second period both teams found scoring difficult with defences dominating and with the scores at 31-30 to “Lightning” at half time it was obvious this was going to be a very close run thing. The county girls kept their noses in front during the third period but going into the last ten minutes it was still desperately close at 50-48 in favour of the “Lightning”
Coach, Karen Goodrich demanded a massive final effort from her charges in the fourth quarter and they delivered the goods with an 11-zero charge at the start of the period including an unlikely three-pointer from Angelina Browne. Doncaster responded with a 9-3 burst of their own and were now fouling the “Lightning” players in the hope that they would miss the resulting free throws. This in fact happened with the county girls missing eight free throws in the last quarter but they held their nerve to take the tie 69-61.
In the eight point victory Angelina Browne top scored with 21 points and she received superb support from the ever improving Lucy Chilton who scored 21 while Hayley Swann and Rachel Taylor made important contributions with 11 points apiece.
East Durham’s recent win over City of Manchester made this match of particular importance. With the two leading teams now both having lost one game a win over the East Durham Academy would move the “Knights” into joint second place. Their task wasn’t helped by the late withdrawal of leading scorer Carl Rowland with a back injury but there was an air of confidence amongst the “Knights” players as the game began.
This confidence wasn’t misplaced as the county boys ‘bossed’ the first period to take a 20-13 lead. By now the “Knights” had switched to their much preferred zone defence which was causing East Durham all sorts of problems while at the offensive end Rudi Perrin was piercing their defence with aggressive drives to basket. At half time the “Knights” led 39-30 and when this lead was extended to 12 at 48-36 midway through the third period a shock looked to be on the cards.
Even though Durham reduced the arrears to 54-45 by the end of the period such was the “Knights” dominance that there didn’t seem any way back for the north-easterners. So it was as the game went into the final four minutes with the “Knights” up by seven and time running out for East Durham. The Durham coach took a time out and in an act of desperation put his players into an aggressive man to man press. In less than a minute they stole the ball on three occasions and scored to get the scores back to 66-65. By now the “Knights” had slipped into panic mode and three missed free throws only served to boost Durham’s growing confidence as they ran out unexpected 71-69 winners.
The “Knights” well knew they had handed victory to Durham despite 22 points from Rudi Perrin and 20 from the battling Joe Forde. That loss means the “Knights” will probably have to settle for third place in the league although they do have the chance to inflict a defeat on Manchester when they meet them at home in two weeks time.
Less than 24 hours after their disappointing loss against East Durham the “Knights” stepped out on court for a National Cup semi-final against the highly talented Hackney “White Heat”. Once again the “Knights” were without the services of Carl Rowland and against the winners of the Christmas Hoopfest Tournament they knew they would have to be at their very best.
A good start to the game was absolutely essential but coach, Barry Powell was helpless to stop the points avalanche from the Londoners as they cruised into a 17-2 lead. The “Knights” closed the quarter 24-12 down but rallied well at the start of the second period outscoring the “White Heat” 11-4 to close the scores to 33-23. The Hackney coach called a time out and his players responded with 19-4 charge to lead 47-27 at half time.
That twenty point lead was extended to thirty by the end of the third period and to all intents and purposes it was, ‘game over’. To their credit the “Knights” never gave up and as the Hackney players went into cruise control the Northants boys took the final period 30-16 to reduce the arrears to a respectable 88-72 led by 15 points from captain, George Adeseko and 11 apiece from Chase Morton and Joe Forde.
Shropshire “Warriors” 39 - 60 Northants “Dynamite”
The Northants “Dynamite” maintained their 100% Conference record with a comfortable win over Shropshire but never played at the top of their form. They won all four quarters with Nauel Saeed top scoring with 18 personal points while Naomi Stirling contributed 13.
The final score doesn’t tell half the story of this match. After the two minutes of the final period the “Cyclones” playing a year young in this league trailed 37-45. Excellent defence earned them the ball on three occasions and a chance to launch counter attacks. On all three occasions though, they missed the ensuing lay up and with it their confidence drained away. Birmingham responded with a 19-2 charge to take the game which had been in the balance for three quarters of its duration.
The much improved “Lords” picked up their first win of the season albeit against an Under 15 team thanks to 23 points from Matt Barber and 14 from David Myers.
With these two wins the Northants “Flyers” gave themselves a great chance of making it to the end of season Final Four Play Offs. In the nine point win over Ipswich coach, Karen Goodrich made particular mention of Hannah Scott-Evans (Northampton School for Girls) who scored 11 points, Natasha Wesley (Mereway Upper School, Northampton) who contributed 10 and Gabby Patrick (Delapre Middle School, Northampton) whose end of game points sealed victory for the county girls.
Almost one hundred young players aged 5 to 12 played in two age group tournaments watched by a host of excited parents. The Budding Stars Tournament was won by the pupils of South End Primary School, Rushden while JD “Jets” took the Superstars Tournament for older players.
THIS WEEKEND’S ACTIONThis coming weekend sees the Northants “Knights” are back in National League action with a trip to Shropshire “Warriors” on Saturday. Also on Saturday, the Northants “Cyclones” travel to Redditch while the Northants “Dynamite” entertain Notts Nova. That match will be played at Northampton School for Boys with a 4.30pm tip off. At 6.30 the Northants “Lightning” should have been playing Richmond College but they have declined to travel so NSBBA officials are looking to set up a challenge match. The action at N.S.B. gets underway at 9.15am with a JD Intra Group Tournament but the event will be spiced up by the visit of a team from Ellesmere Port. Then at 12 noon there’s an Under 14 Girls BAM Passerelle Tournament with the Northants “Flyers” looking to consolidate their top of the table spot against Moulton School and Leighton Buzzard “Leopards” The Northants “Mavericks” and “Hurricanes” also have Passerelle Tournaments on Saturday. The Under 13 Mavericks are at Tassis American School to take on Tassis and West Herts while the Under 14 “Hurricanes” face London United and West Herts. |
Karen Goodrich (Administrator)
07702 263813John Collins (Coaching Co-ordinator)
07801 533151