Under 16 Girl's lose away to Blaze

September 26th, 2015  

U16 National League

 

The Colliers U16 girls travelled through to Edinburgh for their first National League game of the season and their first in division 1. Playing at the foot of the Crags near Arthurs Seat, the girls didn’t have much time to take in the scenery as they focussed on getting off to a good start.

 

Blaze took command of the game early on with their up tempo style of play and Colliers found it tough to get off a decent open shot as a result of some tough defence by Boroughmuir. Trailing 23-4 at the end of the first quarter coach Hutton asked that his player relax and enjoy the game, rather than panicking and rushing all the time.

 

A more spirited and relaxed Colliers team was on show in the second quarter and with Valentina Palli and Carla Crowther knocking down shot after shot the Colliers were playing some terrific basketball.

 

Going into the second half the Colliers were down 47-23 which soon increased as Blaze stepped up a gear. Colliers didn’t have an answer to Blaze as their Scotland Internationalists dominated with some terrific defence and impressive outside shooting.

 

 Coach Hutton called a time out and once again asked the players to relax and stick to what they have been working on, and once again the players went back on the court and took control. Some great hustle on defence from Katie McGee and Caitlin Bell and the combination of five different players on the score sheet saw the Colliers take the quarter 22-17.

 

With a revived lease of confidence, the Collier girls chipped away at the Blaze lead through Palli and Crowther on offence and some great team defence. What was a 32-point lead for Blaze early in the 3rd quarter ended up at 11 in the final seconds which was testament to the positive attitude from the Colliers players.

 

FINAL SCORE: Blaze 78 Colliers 66 (Top scorers: Valentina Palli 27, Carla Crowther 26)

 

Coach Hutton Commented: “It was an enjoyable game to watch as both teams played hard and put on a show for those watching.”

 

“Caitlin and Katie were tenacious on defence and Carla and Tina combining for all but 13 of our points is great, but at the same time we can’t always rely on them to score this much.

 

“We still have a lot to work on but I am happy with our progress and look forward to our next game against Kats next week.”