Kats U18 Women V St Mirren
Defence turns the tide for Juniors
The last game before the Christmas break for the junior women against St Mirren placed them in uncharted territory, finding themselves 11-0 down after 7 minutes of the first quarter. The opposition were quick out of the blocks and executed well in the early phases. Kats regrouped following a timeout and finally managed to break their duck finishing the first period 13-6 behind.
Refusing to dwell on the deficit, Kats showed impressive intensity and coherence in defence and created multiple fast-break opportunities which they capitalised on and turned the tables on the Saints with affairs all square at half-time.
More of the same followed from Kats in the second half and they carved out a double point lead with 5 minutes to go. As expected, Saints went on a run of their own and cut the deficit to 6 but Kats stood fast remaining composed under the pressure and converting to put the game beyond the reach of the Paisely club, final score 61-53.
Kats next game will be against Arbroath at Portobello.
Kings Senior Men v Glasgow University
This was a game that was important for a number of reasons, firstly we needed a confidence boosting win, particularly after our last gasp, 1 point win at Portobello earlier in the season. Secondly, the coaching staff were looking for a strong performance ahead of the upcoming semi-final against St Mirren.
1st Quarter - after starting slowly in the first few minutes where the University took an early need, we ramped up the defensive intensity and went on a run to take the lead midway through the quarter, with Garreth, Simon and Menelaos combining to give us a 17 – 9 lead at the end.
2nd Quarter - as we increased the lead early in the 2nd, we were able to give the starting unit a break and their places were ably taken by Audrius, Paddy, Mike and Wojtiech adding 13 points and extending our lead to 17 points. Half time 36 – 19.
3rd Quarter - Glasgow University led by Captain Calum Nicol tried hard to keep the game close in the second half but with two of their main players unavailable to play, the Senior Mens’s stronger bench continued to wear the students down. The highlights being 3’s from Neil and Craig and a great breakaway dunk from Audrius, extending our lead to 26 points at the end of the quarter 58 – 32.
4th Quarter - this quarter followed the same pattern as the first and had the same quarter score (17 – 9), resulting in a final score of 75 – 41.
In summary, we achieved what we were looking for from the game, albeit against a weakened University team and looking forward to this Friday’s Scottish Cup Semi Final.
U14 Boys Regional Development League
Game time again on Sunday and first up was the derby, Kings "A" against Kings "B" with David Milne kindly subbing in for Holly and Neil who are both on exam study.
With a fast pace the A's took a lead early on and continue to increase during the game, Kyle, Owen and Daniel were in full flow but were unable to pull back the lead and A's won comfortably.
Next game up was B's against Blaze A who had a mix of A and B teams. Our boys worked so hard and the game was in their grasp but some dubious calls lead to losing by 1. This is a game in which Kyle, Owen & Daniel shone and young Juan from blaze was their top player.
Daniel was superb inside whilst Owen and Kyle were shooting from anywhere, the rest of the young ones worked so hard to assist in a great game which was fast and furious.
Game 3 was against the unbeaten Stirling Knight's. Straight from the start we ran a tight defence and Rory and Blair made their mark going 10-2 up. Really great defence was the message of the day with superb work from Finlay who picked up 4 fouls in the quarter but stopped agile and quick Lewis McGlasson from scoring single figures in the same quarter.
We came out in the second half with great defence from Rory & Blair and shooting from Stuart, superbly assisted from Fergal and Lewis - all making their mark on the game. A great victory against the league leaders to show what this team is capable of.
Both teams played to what they are capable of and well done to all, a great finish to the year.
