Under 16 girls set their sights for Promotion
The South Lanarkshire Colliers girls began their competitive basketball career with several big losses against bigger, stronger and more experienced teams. Losing isn’t fun and can be the catalyst for moving on to different sports or quitting altogether. That wasn’t the case for these young enthusiastic basketball players who are mostly all still 12 or 13 years of age and playing at the under 16 level.
Last season they made the leap from playing in the U14 regional development league to division 2 of the U16 National League. Despite losing their first game by just 1 point it didn’t faze the girls and they went on to finish with a record of 5 wins and 5 losses. At the end of the regular season they were matched up with West Lothian Wolves in the play-offs and managed an emphatic win to take them into the semi finals.
The Colliers were now to face the undefeated league champions (St Mirren) but the girls were more than ready for the challenge ahead. The girls started the game on fire and showing the Saints that they meant business. The girls played the best game of their young basketball careers to advance into the play-off final, but it wasn’t to be a dream finish as they couldn’t hold on in the final minutes against a tough Stirling Knights team.
This young group of girls fought hard in the face adversity over the last couple of years and despite the loss in the final, they were all extremely proud of their performance.
Ross Hutton U16 girl’s coach/Club Development Officer commented: “I am always going on about how proud I am of the girls and what they have achieved so far.”
“We haven’t won anything yet but you can’t just measure success on trophies won etc, for me the success comes from where we started and where we are now.
“Being on the end of a 100 point loss one season and playing in the final of the play-offs the next is for me the biggest success of my career.”
As a result of that play-off display, the team was given the opportunity to enter Division 1, which meant a play-off against two other teams. The girls will face Ayr Storm on Tuesday, the 21st of July at the Alistair McCoist Complex. With Ayr already picking up a loss against the other team in the play-off (Boroughmuir Blaze), if the Colliers win it means they would automatically qualify.
The game will tip off at 7:30pm with doors opening at 7pm. We would like pack the gym with as many people as possible to cheer the girls on so please come along and show your support.