Senior Women v St Mirren
Kats Super 6 Find Victory Over St Mirren in the First Round of the Cup.
With illness, injury, holidays and work commitments hitting the senior women’s team, six players headed off on Friday night for their first cup game against St Mirren at the Lagoon.
The first half of the game was fairly evenly matched with both teams trading baskets throughout. St Mirren had a height advantage over Kats which allowed them to gain more rebounds than we would have liked. However, our centres were not going down without a fight with Kara and Trace picking up vital boards at both ends of the floor. Lauren and Kirsten played hard defence on St Mirren’s fast forwards to ensure no easy baskets. Kats were down by one at the half, 26-27.
In the second half Kats continued to play smart at the defensive end and kept fouling to a minimum. Kats called on all their experience in the last quarter to keep St Mirren scoring to only 10 points while hitting back themselves with 22.
Free throws from Lauren and Kirsten, along with two secured baskets from Nicole sealed the deal in the last few minutes of the game. Time was on our hands and the team did a great job of playing safe until the final whistle.
Scorers included Emma with 19, Trace 13 and Lauren and Kara both adding 10.
Absolutely fantastic performance from all! Everyone dug deep, played smart and came together when we needed to. Excellent bench support from Sarah. Game plan was very well coached. Overall a great team effort to produce a 62 – 53 victory and progress to the Cup quarter finals.
Cadette Women v Gracemount Panthers
Kats tame Panthers in new National League Division 2
This was the first game for the Cadettes in the newly created National League Division 2, taking on a new team from Gracemount who were coming off the back of a very close game only minutes earlier.
We started poorly with our defence loosing sight of their players and looking nervous at the other end. However after an early time out we settled into the game and eventually finished the quarter 12-5 up.
Good offensive rebounding was key in the second quarter as the smaller Panthers team struggled to box us out and we led at half time 26-11.
At the offensive end we lost our patience in the third quarter. With little ball movement the Gracemount defence found it easier to cope and they won the quarter going into the 4th trailing by just 10 points.
We upped our defensive intensity in the last quarter as fatigue started to show on the small Panthers squad. Our shooting also improved and we ran out winners with the final score 46-24.
All players contributed well at both ends with 10 different scorers but will need to improve our overall play before we meet some bigger teams in December.
Top scorers - Casey, Tia and Celina with 8 each.
Kings v Boroughmuir Blaze
Kings cruise to victory over Boroughmuir Blaze
Coming off their first loss in nineteen games, there were many questions if the U18 D2 Kings side could bounce back to their former glory, especially when matched up against the much taller Blaze squad. With their starting five back in action and new plays in hand we were set for a good Sunday match up.
From the opening tip the Kings side looked on point and rushed out to an early lead. Point Guard, Konrad Kantorski, took control of the side making excellent decisions and using the new offensive system to get the ball early to captain, Craig Greathead, for a number of 3 pointers. As always, rising star, Kyle Jimenez, had a huge impact creating scoring opportunities for himself and other team mates. Defensively the Kings boys had a large task on their hands, stopping the Blaze 6'7 forward; however thanks to huge efforts from Ali Reid and Matt Wingate, Blaze were limited to only 5 points for the first quarter and only 19 for the half.
The second half presented a common foe for the U18 D2 side in the form of the third quarter. From past experience this is where the side usually leaks points and worries were creeping into the team that this may happen again. However the extra preparation paid off and Kings continued their domination of the game thanks to a collective team effort having their best scoring quarter of the game with 27 points. Kings cruised through the last quarter, allowing role players more court time to develop.
Points scored were, Craig Greathead with 26 (including 6 three pointers), Kyle Jimenez with 17, Ali Reid with 10, Konrad Kantorski with 8, Matt Wingate with 8, Calum Hislop with 4.
Sunday showed an excellent performance from the Kings side, proving last weeks loss a merely a fluke. The U18 D2 boys showed a high level of composure and controlled the game till the end, battling against a much larger side. Each member of the team provided a different aspect which resulted in a good team victory against a strong side and showed a promising future for this season.
Final Score: 73 - 57
