copied from www.basketballscotland.com
The City of Edinburgh Kool Kats entered today's Scottish Cup Final undefeated in Senior Women National League play. With a record like that another win and the Scottish Cup might be a foregone conclusion, but ladies of St Mirren Reid Kerr College had other plans and pushed the Kats to brink in a great game that saw each team pull ahead and battle back. Ultimately, the Kool Kats prevailed, but not without being thoroughly tested.
The second half opened with the Saints holding a one point lead at 36-35. After a two from Natalie Chaloner and Ailidh Hood, the Saints had pushed that lead to five at 40-35. Emma Findlay and Samantha Duff responded for the Kats with a lay up and a three knotting things up at 40. From there the lead changed three times as the teams pushed each other for control.
Edinburgh finally took the lead back for the last time with a basket and a free throw from Kathryn Taylor with 1:08 reamining in the quarter. Those points were part of a 9-0 run the Kats went on to close the third quarter at 56-49.
The Saints came back in the fourth quarter to pull within two at 56-60 with 6:00 remaining, but they could not get ahead. The Kats slowly built on their lead. Samantha Duff added seven of their last nine points where they closed out the game with 75-64 victory.
Edinburgh had three players in double figures led by Samantha Duff with 24. Rebecca Allison added 14 and Emma Findlay had 9. The Saints had three as well. Mellissa Prunty was their top scorer with 18. Natalie Chaloner added 14 and Toni Carvill had 11.
