Collier U16 girls lose out to Kats
U16 Division 1 National League
October 3rd, 2015
The Colliers made their second trip to Edinburgh in a week this time to take on City of Edinburgh Kats at Portobello High School.
The Kats got off to the more dominant start and immediately made it hard for the Colliers to play together on offence as well as they usually do, however the girls dug their heels in and fought their way to a 13-19 first quarter score.
Despite being 6 points down going into the second quarter there wasn’t much in it between the teams, but that was to change.
The Colliers stopped playing as a team which made it easier for the Kats to get to the hoop and take advantage of the lack of conviction by their opponents taking the quarter 29-6. This extended Kats lead to 48-19 going into the half.
Coach Hutton challenged the players to change their mindset for the third quarter. “I told the players to improve our team defence and keep them to just 10 points this quarter and for us to play harder and together on offence and challenged them to score at least 15 points”.
The Colliers came out in the 3rd a different team, with renewed passion and a will to win they quickly took the momentum of the game and started chipping away at the huge lead Kats built up in the second quarter.
Great team work and some outstanding individual contributions from Katie Burn on defence and Carla Crowther on offence saw the Colliers girls play like they were 25 points up. Coach Hutton kept Palli, Paterson, Hawthorne, Burn and Crowther on the court as they really started to play some terrific team basketball, and with Bell and McGee coming on they didn’t miss a beat. The Colliers lived up to the challenge set by their coach winning the quarter 18-9.
With the lead now down to 20 it was more realistic for the Colliers to challenge for the win. The fourth quarter was more evenly contested as both teams traded baskets. The energy and determination was still there from the Colliers but they couldn’t get the run they were looking for to make an attempt on the Kats score. The Kats really struggled with Palli on offence as she scored 12 points straight but defensively the Colliers couldn’t stop the Kats picking up some easy points.
Top Scorers: Valentina Palli 24 points & Carla Crowther 18 points.
FINAL SCORE: City of Edinburgh Kats 74 SL Colliers 52
Head Coach Ross Hutton commented: “this was a tough game for the girls but one which I think was within our reach.”
“We had a poor second quarter which basically ended our chance of winning.
“I was really impressed with how the players responded in the third and it showed what they are really capable of against a bigger and much stronger team.“