Kats Senior Women v Polonia
Kool Kats enjoyed a resounding victory over local rivals and current league champions Polonia Phoenix at the weekend. Helped in part by the return of former player and Olympian, Rose Anderson, the Edinburgh club was able to record their first big win of the season.
A packed Crags sports centre saw Ben Gunn’s team start with Emma, Lauren, Tracey, Leanne and Nicole. They soon steamed and were able to stop Polonia from scoring for the first 5 minutes and 42 seconds of the quarter.
The introduction of Anderson and several juniors in the second quarter did not hold Kats back and they swept into a 20-point lead. Although the shooting percentage wasn’t as good as it could be, the inter-play between players was excellent as was the defence. The welcome return of Hannah Peacock gave the forwards and guards a big target to aim for and she didn’t disappoint.
Half time saw Kats leading although there were signs that Polonia were not just going to roll over.
The third quarter saw Kats return to their initial starters and again begin to put heavy pressure on the Phoenix defence. With Leanne and Emma dictating the game, fast breaks were aplenty. The introduction of Elspeth Simpson did little to slow down this speed as she continued where the others had left off.
The fourth quarter was something of a formality for the Edinburgh club- and again junior players were given their opportunity. Shannon, Ciara, Elspeth and Rowan played like senior players- even more fantastic considering they had been involved in an earlier game. Rose stepped back onto court as a Kool Kat and showed exactly why she is an Olympian. Final score was 72-30 for Kats.
This was an excellent result for Kats who can only keep improving. Absent were Kara and Sarah and we hope to have a full strength team for Rocks this Saturday.
Scorers for Kats were:
Lauren 14, Rose and Tracey on 12 and Hannah and Kirsten with 8.
Kings Senior Men v Glasgow Storm
The fourth game of the season saw the fourth different starting unit. Some excellent team defence in the 1st quarter was countered by some poor finishing and resulted in a tie at the end of the quarter 12:12.
The 2nd quarter was much the same but with all players getting in, some nice ball movement and shooting saw us lead 28-20.
The 3rd quarter could best be described as interesting, as we moved out to a 12 pt lead after a few minutes, before Storm fought back cutting this to 1pt before we went on a run, based on another great team defensive effort, which saw us finish the quarter leading by 16 pts (52 – 36).
The fourth quarter saw the teams trade baskets with Findlay Wood scoring our last 5 points (3 + 2FT) on his debut for the Seniors. Difficult to pick out any individuals as all 10 players contributed something different at different stages of the game. Final score 67-50 to the Kings.
Scorers:
- Audrius - 15pts
- Simon - 12pts
- Craig - 12pts
Kings Cadet Men v Glasgow City
The Kings Cadet Men travelled to Eastbank Academy to play a Glasgow City side brimming with confidence after beating Boroughmuir Blaze in their last game. The Kings went out with a game plan to stifle guard Alex Geddes and be more direct than in previous games. This plan worked effectively right from the start with the Kings defence working perfectly and Kings taking a 24-12 lead at the end of the first.
Glasgow got themselves back into the game early in the 2nd quarter thanks to Glasgow guard J. Benny, hitting 2 of his eventual 5 ‘shot clock beating’ 3 pointers, to pull the score back to within 7 before Kings went back on the pressure led by captain Kyle Jimenez to lead by 12 at the half.
A change of tactics from Glasgow allowed guard Geddes back into the game as Glasgow won their only quarter of the game 25-22 and leaving the Kings up by 9. However, a Kings near on perfect press at the start of the 4th Quarter put the game to bed taking the Kings lead back into double figures and allowed the King’s two youngest squad members, Rory Milne and Stuart Greathead, into the game where they did not disappoint. A very strong team defensive display was capped off by guard Milne, who after successfully boxing out a player over a foot taller for a defensive rebound, broke with the ball to the half way line before sending a hair raising assist to captain Jiminez for his staggering 56th points of the game.
The only real low point of the game, a bounce out final 3 pt attempt from Jamie Campbell to miss out on the 100pt barrier for the day, quickly forgotten about after a very mature and impressive display from the Kings.
Final Score: Glasgow City 81-98 City of Edinburgh Kings
Kings Senior Men Lothian League v Central Jaguars
The Lothian League Senior Men started the season with a win 54 - 43 in Livingston against the Central Jaguars.
Graeme Cameron started the scoring for the Kings, this was 2 of only 9 points in the first quarter where everyone was looking a little rusty in the opening game.
The 2nd quarter was a different story the defensive play was very strong with a massive amount a rebounds for Steven Turnbull which in turn helped the offence convert some better opportunities.
After the half was slightly a different story and the Jaguars started to come in to the game getting the ball down the floor fast for a couple of easy scores. The Kings had a 15 point lead at the end of the half this was cut to just 2 points in the 4th quarter.
This changed dramatically when Anthony Hogg came back onto the floor after getting in foul trouble early. Within those last 5 minutes Anthony scored 8 unanswered points to close out the game to give the team its first of what should be many wins this season.
With a team that has so many new faces this was always going to be a tough game but a lot of solid performances both from starters and off the bench I am sure that this team can push on and have a great season.
Kats U18 Women v Polonia
Kats Topple Phoenix at Crags
The second outing of the season for Kats juniors was a weekend league game against Polonia Phoenix at the Crags. This was a physical and competitive encounter from the outset with both teams trading baskets throughout the first two periods. Kats created multiple fast break opportunities in the first half which refused to drop in the basket, but despite this Kats found other ways to score. By half time Kats had a 2 to 3 basket lead.
In the third period, a change in Kats defence proved fruitful and brought about Phoenix errors and turnovers. Kats pounced on this and, unlike the earlier phases of the game, were able to capitalise and convert these chances into points A 9-point lead forced a Phoenix timeout but this was not enough to interrupt Kats’ momentum and they continued to build on their lead.
By the end of the game Kats had a comfortable margin of victory, 57 – 46, which was hard fought and well deserved and hopefully will be a performance they can build on and carry forward. Next up Rocks on Saturday (26th October Tip Off 11AM) which will signal the juniors’ first home game of the season.
Top scorers in the game; Ciara 11pts, Eilidh 8pts, Rowan 13pts, Elspeth 9pts, Shannon 10pts
