Colliers girls get important win in the Cup
U16 Strathclyde Cup
October 5th 2015
The Colliers girls had their first home game of the regular season as they took on St Mirren in the Strathclyde Cup. A tenacious start on defence and great execution on offence gave the Colliers the momentum and quickly built up a 10-0 lead.
St Mirren struggled to get the ball down the court without meeting the pressure from the Colliers defence and if they reached the key, they were met by Katie Burn who made it tough for anyone to get near the hoop.
St Mirren managed to get some points on the scoreboard but it was from the free throw line, and at the other end, Colliers attacked the basket through Palli and Crowther who combined for 18 of the Colliers 20 first quarter points.
The second quarter was a bit more even but the Colliers still had control. Paterson, Bell, Gunn and McGee were exceptional on defence and their overall effort was outstanding as they continued to pester and harass the Saints as they tried to bring the ball down the floor. Terrific screens from Hawthorne made it easier for Palli to attack the hoop and the Colliers went into the half with a commanding lead.
St Mirren switched to playing zone defence in the third quarter which put a stop to the Colliers flow, so coach Hutton made a change of his own and put Natalie Clark on to do one thing, shoot the ball!
Natalie’s first touch of the third quarter saw her shoot the ball from way outside the three point line and hit nothing but net, and her second was exactly the same. 6 quick points from Clark made the St Mirren zone ineffective and the Colliers regained their momentum and extend their lead.
Clark saw no reason to stop her good form in the fourth quarter as she rained down three more long range bombs on the St Mirren defence to take her tally to a career high of 17 points.
Katie Burn was again a dominating force inside as she blocked shots and did a great job rebounding the ball. Laura Thomson battled hard with the older and bigger St Mirren players in the key and caused them all sorts of problems with her strong drives to the hoop.
The Colliers ran their bench for the last five minutes of the game with U13 players Allison Campbell and Mille Tulleth doing a great job.
Top Scorers: Tina Palli 28, Carla Crowther 19, Natalie Clark 17 (five 3 pointers)
FINAL SCORE: SL Colliers 72 St Mirren 57
Head Coach Ross Hutton commented: “We continue to improve in little ways here and there and the girls are buying in to the picture of team basketball slowly.”
“Our defence in the key has to improve but our pressure and trapping in the corners is tough to handle for most teams, its exciting to watch our girls play when they do this.”