Lightning were 52-45 winners over Reading Rockets in the battle for the Junior Women’s Midlands South-West Conference runners-up spot.
The Northants junior women recorded an important win against their closest rivals.
The seven point victory was very firmly based on determined defence with Lois Bain and Karla Pinney to the fore in containing Rockets main offensive threats.
Lightning eased out in front 18-11 after the first quarter but their offence lacked movement and Rockets took the second period of play 10-9 to close the gap to 27-21 at half time.
The second half took on a very similar pattern to the first with Lightning increasing their lead by six points to 43-31 in the third quarter but once again Reading battled back to take the fourth 14-9 to give the home side a few nervous moments.
Eight Lightning players scored, led by captain Izzy John and Steph Ogden with 17 points apiece.
VCARS Division 4 Midlands Conference
Northants Thunder 95 College of West Anglia Fury 63
The Northants senior men duly completed a 30-plus points win over five man West Anglia Fury last Saturday to keep alive their hopes of going through the Conference season undefeated.
Thunder took control of the game in the first quarter rushing out to a 24-12 lead but complacency set in in the second period of play which Fury took 27-21.
It was business as usual in the third with Thunder overwhelming their opponents 31-12 to put the final result beyond doubt at 76-51 and the win was completed 19-12 in the final period of play.
For Thunder, Jason Tucker led the scoring with 18 points while Tomas Vladuka contributed 14 points and Nick Waller 12.
Next week second placed Sporting Club Albion are the visitors to the Basketball Centre and a closer game is anticipated.
Junior Men’s Premier Division North
Leicester Warriors 76 Northants Thunder 58
The Northants junior men travelled to Gateway College to take on Leicester Warriors without the services of their under aged players who were on duty with the club’s Cadet team and their usual coach.
Warriors have shown themselves to be a well rounded team and their talents were well to the fore early in the game as they raced out to an 11-5 lead.
Stand-in coach Mike Round made some defensive adjustments and thanks to the efforts of Luke Lewis and Matt Yates Thunder became more competitive.
The recovery was completed at the end of the first quarter when Lewis Mooney drained a three-pointer to give his team an 18-17 lead.
Thunder remained competitive at the start of the second quarter but were handicapped when the Linas Bajouranas got into foul trouble and Kamisi Fawlihihmi rolled an ankle.
Bereft of their two ‘big’ players Thunder were almost exclusively relying on perimeter shots and lost the period 14-21 to trail 42-47 at half time.
Warriors came out for the third period of play with increased defensive pressure paying particular attention to Matt Yates.
Shots that had ‘dropped’ in the first half were now ‘rimming out’ and Warriors were able to launch a number of fast break offences.
When unable to break, the home team executed a well-organised set offence that gave them inside and outside scoring options and a 20-11 score in the Warriors’ favour gave them a comfortable 57-43 lead going into the final period and Leaving Thunder a mountain to climb.
Fawlihihmi was able to return to the fray for the final stanza and Thunder kept battling to the final whistle and only lost the final quarter 19-15, but could not stop the Warriors from recording a 76-58 win.
It was encouraging to note that all eight players contributed points to the team’s total led by Matt Yates with 17 points and he was well-supported by Luke Lewis who scored 13.
Thunder will be hoping to overturn this result when the two teams meet again in a week’s time.
Cadet Men’s Premier Division North
Cheshire Panthers 72 Northants Thunder 68
When Pauli Laurninolli scored with a breakaway lay up at the end of the second quarter, the scoreboard showed a 47-30 score line in favour of the Northants cadet men.
The Northants boys had taken that second period of play 25-13 thanks to a 15-2 charge over the last four minutes of the quarter and the 17-point lead had been achieved by some excellent defence which had forced a number of Panthers’ turn overs and some clinical finishing.
What happened at the start of the third quarter was the thing nightmares are made of.
Panthers switched to a 1-3-1 and Thunder became guilty of poor decision making, poor shot selection and a large dose of complacency.
Panthers began to score freely against lackadaisical Thunder defence forcing coach John Collins to take his second time out.
A switch to a man-to-man defence made no difference and Collins was forced to watch as the Cheshire team went on a 12-2 charge to take a 57-56 lead at the end of the third quarter having taken the period 27-9.
Shocked to their core, Thunder were far more competitive in the fourth quarter and when George Calvey scored on a trail play they regained the lead at 65-64.
On the next play Calvey who had pulled down a dozen rebounds, illegally extended a leg and picked up his fifth foul and fouled out of the game.
The two teams exchanged three point shots but down the stretch Thunder were unable to find the basket for almost two and a half minutes as Panthers were able to take the game by 72 points to 68.
In the disappointing defeat Laurinolli top scored with 32 points.
He also pulled down eight rebounds but he wouldn’t have been pleased with a total of 12 losses.
The only other Thunder player to score in double figures was George Paul who shot superbly in the first half scoring all 20 of his points in those 20 minutes
Cadette Women’s Midland South-West Conference
Northants Lightning 20 Reading Rockets 0
Northants Lightning Too 20 Bucks Hornets 0
At the tail end of the season a number of clubs seem to find it difficult to raise at team and so it proved last Saturday when both the Northants Cadette Women’s and Under 15 Girl’s teams were ‘given’ games.
Lightning and Lightning Too lie second and fourth respectively in the Conference table.
The two teams meet this week and dependent on the result those positions may be reversed.
Under 15 Boys play-offs first round
City of Birmingham 65 Northants Thunder 46
A large crowd was present at Dame Elizabeth Cadbury School in Birmingham to watch Midland Conference rivals Northants Thunder and City of Birmingham clash in the first round of the play-offs.
It was the home team who took control of the game early on moving out to a 9-2 lead thanks to some strong full court man to man defence.
Thunder responded with an 8-4 run of their own to get back to 13-10 thanks to scores from Ed Hall and Carlo Nieva and it was Nieva who drew the two teams level at 17 points each with a three pointer late in the quarter.
Thunder opened the scoring in the second quarter with Will Grosvenor finding Brendan Ross off a pick and roll, but then a period of sloppy play led to a number of turnovers saw C.O.B. go on a 10-zero run to take a 27-19 lead.
After a Thunder time out David Nieva, Grosvenor and Hall kept the scoreboard ticking over for the visitors reducing the lead to 32-25.
Thunder were finding it difficult to score close to basket but, Josh Amiroro and Hall were fouled whilst driving to the basket and they converted the ensuing free throws to get the score back to 34-28 in favour of C.O.B. at half time.
Thunder started the third quarter well with a score from Grosvenor, but that would be Thunder’s only score in that quarter.
The scene was set after that early score as Thunder proceeded to miss four lay ups in transition.
C.O.B. seemed to derive confidence from these misses and their full court defence became more aggressive causing problems for the Thunder ball handlers who turned over the ball over giving the home side easy scores.
They went on a 16-0 run to open up a 52-30 and leaving Thunder with a mountain to climb. To their credit Thunder refused to give up and actually took the final stanza 16-13 but there was never any realistic chance that they could close the gap and it was C.O.B. that advanced to the second round of the play-offs and leaving the Thunder players, coaching staff and fans to contemplate that nightmare third period of play.
In the disappointing 19 point defeat Thunder’s leading scorers were Carlo Nieva and Ed Hall with 17 and 15 points respectively.
Coach Crump was disappointed that his team hadn’t been able to progress to the next round of the playoffs, but felt that their season was a success by securing a place in the play-offs.
He was extremely grateful to all the players for their hard work and commitment throughout the season.
Under 14 Boys Midlands Conference
Leicester Warriors 71 Northants Thunder 66
Thunder travelled to Leicester with an eight-man squad due to illness and cry-offs, but the eight that did make the game put in a huge effort but still came off second best.
Thunder started the game well enough with David Nieva pulling the strings but the Warriors team were causing problems with their drives to basket and finished the period 19-12 up.
The second quarter started well for the Northants boy’s with two quick baskets from Hayden Sayers cutting the Leicester lead to just three points.
Thunder continued to dominate the play and by half time were within one point with the score at 32-33.
The third period of play saw Thunder lose their concentration, allowing Warriors several easy scores.
The home side took the quarter 25-26 to lead by ten points at 58-48 going into the last ten minutes of play.
Thunder worked tirelessly in the fourth quarter but could make no impact on the Leicester lead.
With three minutes to go coach Mickey Paul instructed his team to start shooting three point shots.
The tactic worked perfectly with four consecutive three point attempts catching nothing but string.
With the Warriors lead cut to just three points their coach was forced to call two time outs in quick succession which did the trick as Warriors held on to win the game by 71 points to 66.
For Thunder, David Nieva scored 38 points, while Reece Zubal and Hayden Sayers contributed 11 and 10 points respectively.
Under 14 Girls Midland South West Conference
Northants Lightning 55 Haringey Angels 41
In front of an enthusiastic but unaware crowd at the Basketball Centre last Saturday, a little piece of history was made with a Northants team beating the mighty Haringey Angels for the very first time.
The victory was based on an outstanding team defensive performance which saw all the Lightning players putting their bodies on the line for each other.
In fairness Haringey were without the services of the outstanding Savannah Wilkinson but even so this represented a tremendous achievement by coach Karen Goodrich’s team.
Angels made a lethargic start to the game but the Northants team were unable to capitalise fully and only led 18-11 after the first period of play.
There were however, signs that Lightning held the ascendency with Sarah Round looking particularly impressive in the back court.
The second and third quarters saw some tremendous Lightning ‘help’ defence restricting Angels to speculative long-range shots.
Meanwhile, through Round and Caitlin Stewart Lightning were posing a much more balanced threat and when shots missed the mercurial Ruchae Walton was on hand to pick up the scraps and score with put backs.
In those middle two periods Lightning outscored their opponents 29-16 to lead 47-27 going into the final 10 minutes of play and coach Goodrich was able to give all 12 of her players some court time so they could say ‘I played in the team that beat Haringey’.
Angels played with more passion in the final quarter which they won 15-12 but it was a case of too little too late as Lightning ran out comfortable winners by 55 points to 41.
In the 14-point win, Sarah Round was absolutely outstanding scoring 25 points and playing some hard-nosed defence.
Excellent support came form Caitlin Stewart and Ruchae ‘DD’ Walton who both recorded double-doubles.
The only worry for Goodrich was the fact that all but two of her team’s points came from those three players and she will no doubt be trying to instil some offence confidence to match their defensive skills, in her other players.
Under 13 Boys Midlands Conference
Northants Thunder 58 Reading Rockets 39
The Northants under 13 boys finished their Conference campaign with a satisfying, if somewhat unconvincing home win against Reading Rockets.
Thunder dominated the early exchanges and raced to a 9-2 lead.
However, the Rockets found some form and stopped the Northants boys from moving further ahead.
The quarter ended 17-10 but Thunder could have had a greater lead had they not missed six of the seven free throws they were awarded.
The second quarter was a similar story with Thunder outscoring Reading in the early minutes then the two teams exchanged baskets through to the half time break which saw the Northants boys leading 35-23.
Coach Round was disappointed that the game was so close going into the second half.
His fears were justified and a combination of Thunder’s failure to finish and Reading’s reluctance to cave in enabled the visitors to take the third quarter 18-12 and close the gap to just 6 points at 47-41.
Thunder’s relentless full court pressure and fast breaking offence gave them a 10-zero run at the start of the final period and four put-backs by Ed Wallhead sealed the victory but the 58-39 score-line disguised the fact that Thunder had missed too many scoring opportunities and allowed Reading too many offensive rebounds.
Once again, Laurence Williams and Jared Ryan led the scorers list with 17 and 16 respectively.
Having not made the play-offs, the players now have an opportunity to develop their skills in readiness for next season.
British Colleges Midlands Men’s Elite League
Moulton College 87 Birmingham Metropolitan College 81
Just before Christmas, the Moulton College men’s team played Birmingham Met and ended up on the wrong end of a 107-49 score line.
Against the same college last Wednesday Moulton’s main aim was to try and keep the score respectable.
Coach John Collins’ pre-game talk focussed on players playing to their full potential and doing the simple things well.
Moulton were able to field a stronger team than in the previous game and employed a mobile zone defence they had practiced only briefly.
The Mets team looked shell-shocked when they fell behind 7-2 but after a fearsome dressing down by their coach they did raise the level of their play.
Even so they were still having problems with Moulton’s rotating defence and at the end of the first period of play it was the home side that held the lead at 20-13.
Moulton had been playing with a great deal of composure but at the start of the second period Mets employed a double-teaming run-and-jump defence.
Moulton’s discipline disappeared and they were guilty of over-dribbling allowing the west midlanders to steal the ball on a number of occasions leading to easy scores.
Mets went on an 11-zero run to take a 24-22 lead and at this stage it looked as if Moulton were done for.
Coach Collins called a time out a re-enforced the team’s press break tactics and his charges responded superbly.
They went on an 18-9 charge of their own to lead 38-37 at half time with skipper Matt Yates and Linas Bajournas being particularly effective on offence.
Mets made the better start to the third quarter scoring two quick baskets to re-take the lead at 41-38, but there was a determination about the Moulton players who mounted an 18-4 surge to open up a double digit lead and suddenly there seemed to be a belief that they might clinch a win.
The two teams exchanged baskets for the rest of the period so going into the final ten minutes of play Moulton were leading 68-58.
Moulton were having problems covering the mid post area and this was an area Mets chose to attack at the start of the final quarter.
Their tactic proved to be successful with the Birmingham college scoring seven quick points without reply.
Once again Moulton refused to buckle and Tom Halfhide, Kyle Mayes and Derice McLeod did a great job hustling at the top of the Moulton zone defence.
Their efforts led to a number of steals and easy scores.
By this time Mets were employing a Box and One defence paying particular attention to Yates but this created more space for Bajournas who scored at ease on a number of occasions.
With three minutes of the game left the score board showed Moulton leading 81-69 and the players could hardly believe their eyes.
All that was needed now was good shot clock management but Moulton were guilty of rushing shots when possession was more important.
Mets ended with a rush of points but there was no way back as Moulton held on for the 87-81 win.
In the amazing turn around win Yates was superb scoring 37 points including 13 of 15 from the free throw line and Bajournas supported well with 28 points while a useful contribution came from Byron Wing with 12 points.
Calvey is off to Spain
There was good news for local player George Calvey this week. George who stands a massive 6feet 7 inches, a member of the Northants Thunder Cadet Men’s team was selected for the England Under 16 team to play against Spain in Madrid at the end of this month.
George, a pupil at William Parker School in Daventry, has only been playing basketball seriously for just over two years so this represents a tremendous achievement.
He hopes a good performance in Spain will earn him a place in the England team to compete in the European Championship Qualification Tournament which will be staged in Bosnia in August.
Rio and Steph will play in Ireland
Two more players from the Northants club have gained international honours.
Rio Blessyn and Steph Ogden who are both pupils at Northampton School for Girls have been selected to play for the England ‘New Horizons’ team which will compete in a tournament in Ireland in July.
Weekend fixtures
Saturday, March 16
11.30am: Junior Women versus Bristol Storm; Cadet Men versus City of Birmingham
1.30pm: Cadette Women versus Reading Rockets; Under 14 Boys versus Shropshire Warriors
3.30pm: Junior Men versus City of Birmingham
5.30pm: Senior Men versus Sporting Club Albion
These seven games will be played at the Northants Basketball Centre at Northampton School for Girls in
Spinney Hill Road, Northampton. Spectators are welcome and admission is FREE
Other games on Saturday:
Under 13 Girls travel to Bury St Edmunds
Sunday, March 17
Junior Women travel to Reading Rockets
Under 14 Girls travel to Ipswich Bobcats