Northants Lightning opened up their Junior Women’s Midland Conference campaign with an emphatic 86-23 win over Chiltern Pumas, with Steph Ogden the star of the show as she bagged 27 points.
Against a young and inexperienced Pumas team, Lightning were able to dominate all four periods of the game.
By half time the game was as good as over as a contest with a 40-14 score line in favour of Lightning.
To their credit, Pumas kept trying to the end but couldn’t prevent all 11 Northants players getting onto the score sheet.
Supporting Ogden were captain Isobel Johns with 15 points, while both Amy Boot and Lois Bain scored in double figures.
Cadette Women’s Midlands South West Conference
Northants Lightning 65 Gloster Jets 58
This season the Northants Lightning under 15 girls will play in the Under 16 Girls National League.
Last Saturday they had their first game and picked up a creditable win against Gloster Jets. Jets arrived with just six players and to conserve energy sat in a zone defence for the entire game.
The young Northants team trailed through the first three quarters of the game with Gloster’s Lucy Jane Weaver causing the home team a lot of problems with her perimeter shooting and close to the basket work.
Karen Goodrich, the Lightning coach, was giving all 12 of her players plenty of court time with a lot of up-court pressure.
Trailing 37-40 going into the final period of play the Northants pressure finally paid off and they took the quarter 26-18 to win the game 65-58.
The Lightning scoring was led by Charlotte Berridge and Caitlin Stewart with 18 and 15 points respectively while Sarah Round scored 12 points. Coach Goodrich was full of praise for the sharp shooting of Ellie McHarg who scored 10 points.
Cadet Men’s Premier Division North
Manchester Magic 90 Northants Thunder 60
This score line looks as if last Saturday’s game was the usual one-sided affair seen when Northants teams take on the might of Manchester, but nothing could be further from the truth.
Ignoring the third period of play, the score was Magic 64 Thunder 54.
What happened in the third quarter was little short of carnage, with the Northants zone defence totally capitulating while their offence became totally based on individual efforts.
At half time Thunder trailed 32-46 and had problems with the Manchester ‘big’ men Ali and Walters with their slashing cuts to basket.
This led to coach John Collins switching to a zone defence, but Thunder spent the next six minutes playing like headless chickens as Magic scored at will from both the perimeter and close to the basket.
To their credit Thunder took the final quarter 22-18 but by then the result of the game wasn’t in doubt and the Manchester coach was resting key players ready for the Junior Men’s game.
Pauli Laurinolli top-scored with 18 points, while Andre Arissol scored 13 and tried to organise his team’s offence.
George Calvey picked up a double-double with 10 points and the same number of rebounds.
Junior Men’s Premier Division North
Trafford 49 Northants Thunder 70
Just less than hour after overpowering the Northants Cadet Men, Manchester - now in the guise of Trafford - took on the Northants Junior Men.
It didn’t take them long to realise that they were in for a rather different kind of game as Luke Lewis and Matt Yates put enormous pressure on their guards.
On a number of occasions this pressure led to turn-overs and easy scores for Thunder, and by the end of the first period of play they had opened up a 31-12 lead.
After a superb first quarter it was a case of ‘after the Lord Mayor’s Show’ in the second.
Thunder scored just four points in six minutes as Trafford began to score freely in the paint.
The Northants coaching staff had stern words for their charges, but Trafford took the quarter 16-12 to reduce the deficit to 15 points at 43-28 by half time.
As the third quarter unfolded, Thunder were stil having problems with their offensive cohesion managing just nine points.
Thankfully their defence remained sound and Trafford were restricted to just 10 points.
Even so, at 52-38 the home side were back in the game and they started the final stanza in confident mood.
This mood was well and truly subdued early in the quarter as the Thunder pressure once again forced numerous Trafford errors and Pauli Laurinolli and Josh Elliott were clinical with their finishing.
Defensively, Thunder were playing out of their skins led by the efforts of Jack Thomas while Linas Bajorumas was rebounding superbly. Thunder took the quarter 18-11 to take a well deserved 21 point win.
The Thunder scoring was once again dominated by Matt Yates who totalled 33 points but Coach Rob Eddon was quick to emphasise the efforst of his team mates in providing him with those scoring opportunities.
Sam Round injured
Last Saturday, England international guard Sam Round underwent successful surgery for a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
The injury occurred when Sam was training with the East Midlands team and he is likely to be side lined for nine months.
Under 15 Boys Midlands Conference
Northants Thunder 87 Coventry Tornadoes 29
Thunder bounced back from last weekend’s big defeat against Leicester Dynamite with a home win against Coventry Tornadoes.
For various reasons, Thunder were only able to suit up eight players for the fixture, but they exploded into an 11-2 lead.
This lead came about thanks to Thunder’s aggressive full court pressure defence intimidating the Tornadoes ball handlers who turned over the ball numerous times resulting in easy Thunder scores.
Despite a Coventry time out and a speculative but successful three point shot, a number of drives by Carlo Nieva saw Thunder go on a 10-zero run which gave them a 25-5 first quarter lead.
Coach Rob Crump encouraged his team to maintain their defensive presence and his players responded positively and Thunder embarked on a 19-zero run to extend their lead.
Carlo Nieva continued to look impressive and he was well supported by Brendan Ross, Jacob Round and David Nieva while Rhys Hill and Jacob Killeya were rebounding strongly.
By half time Thunder’s efforts had been rewarded with a 52-19 lead and there was no way back for Tornadoes.
In the third quarter Coventry resorted to a 2-3 zone defence which they implemented for the remainder of the game.
Good ball movement by Thunder found Jacob Killeya for consecutive scores close to basket, while frequent fast breaks kept the scoreboard ticking over and by the end of the quarter their lead had been extended to 62-19.
The full court pressure defence had its effect on the Thunder players in the final period of play and they looked a little jaded and fatigued.
Their dominance wasn’t as marked as in the previous three quarters but they still took the period 16-10 to run out comfortable winners by 87 points to 29.
The Thunder scoring was led by Carlo Nieva with 32 points, and he was well supported by Jacob Killeya with 16 points, while Rhys Hill and Brendan Ross contributed with 15 and 10 points respectively.
Coach Crump was very happy with his team effort and commitment but he was less pleased by the fact that his team was only able to make three free throws out of 22 attempts.
Under 13 Boys Midlands South Conference
Northants Thunder 76 London Feltham Warriors 88
The Northants Thunder under 13 boys slipped to defeat against Feltham Warriors despite a mercurial effort from Jacob Round who finished the game with a massive 54 point haul.
Thunder eased into a 19-12 lead after the first six minutes of the game despite missing no less than ten free throws.
Warriors raised their defensive efforts and kept Thunder scoreless for the remainder of the period to take a 24-19 lead
The two teams traded baskets through the second period, but try as they may Thunder couldn’t close the gap and at half time they trailed 42-49.
Coach Mike Round asked for an increased defensive effort in the second half and his players responded well.
With the gap down to just three points and several Warriors in foul trouble, a Thunder win looked possible but the visitors held on for a deserved 88-76 win.
Coach Round commented that 95 per cent of the visitors’ points had come from just three players, while obviously his own team’s total was dominated by Jacob Round, with the only real support coming from Laurence Williams who scored 16 points.
This weekend’s action
Saturday, October 13
9.30-11am: Under 13 and Under 13 Practice
10-11am: Junior Ballers
11.15am: Under 14 Boys v Northamptonshire Titans; Under 13 Girls v Ipswich Bobcats
1.15pm: Cadet Men v Northamptonshire Titans
3.15pm: Junior Me v Sheffield Junior Sharks
Junior Women travel to Herts Warriors
All these games will be played at the Northants Basketball Centre which is situated at Northampton School for Girls in Spinney Hill Road, Northampton NN3 6DG. Spectators are welcome and admission is FREE
Sunday, October 14
Under 14 Girls travel to Southend Swifts
 |  |