Under 15 Girls game off again!!

Apologies once again to the Under 15 Girls Squad who must be getting particularly frustrated with opponents cancelling on us this season. Longdean have had to cancel the fixture tomorrow and, based on the fact this is late notice and the game has to be played by half term, they have given us the victory. This means we receive an automatic 20 - 0 victory and are 1 for 1 in the County League. We are scheduled to have a home game this Thursday against Queens School. Lets hope we can finally get our season up and running!! 

Under 13 Boys make county semi's

Congratulations to the Under 13 boys who, by defeating Cheshunt 36 - 21 have reached the semi finals of the County League. A poor start saw Cheshunt take an early lead, but a run of 17 points without reply saw us take control of the game. The second half saw us match Cheshunt point for point in a performance which lacked a little defensive cohesion and saw us dribble the ball rather than pass it too often. That said, this was a steady performance where we still won relatively comfortably without playing at our best, the sign of a good team.
Lewis top scored with 16 points, whilst Jacob Bockenhauer was not far behind with 12. Ryan Thomas and Connor Mitchell both rebounded well, particularly on defence in only their second games. Jay Gurney captained the team in Zach and Will's absence and did a good job.
Well done to the whole squad who have backed up last years County Rally final with another strong display in their County competition.

Boys and Girls have mixed results in the County League

Tonight saw the Under 15 Boys and Senior Girls both play in the County League. Although the boys won and girls lost, both teams progress in the competition.
The girls played last years finalists, Queens and struggled to out rebound and deal with the strong driving of the Queens players. A number of year 10 girls played with Aisha being the pick of them, rebounding strongly at both ends of the court. Alex and Karis played their first game this season and rebounded and passed the ball effectively. Daria Khoyi made her first appearance for the team and, although only coming on briefly, she showed a competitive approach that boads well for the future. Cleme top scored with 20 points and worked extremely hard as always. It is likely we will meet Queens in the final later in the season and there is no reason why we cannot be competitive based on tonights performance.
The Under 15 boys had to win tonight to guarantee a semi final place and did so with a 57 - 47 win against Richard Hale.Jamie (23 points) and Aidan (21 points) scored he majority of the points tonight but it was nice to see Jake and Chris on the scoresheet and all but one of the team scoring points tonight.
Well done to the squad on qualifying for the semi finals again this year.

Under 16 Boys reach Nationals Regional Round

The Under 16 Boys put in their second excellent performance of the week defeating Hemel 94 - 43 tonight in their final ESBBA National Schools group game. With a depleated squad we played a zone defence and after taking a couple of minutes to adapt to it played it very effectively. We played controlled and fluent offence with Max, Kieron and Luke rebounding well on offence. Jack found space and drove the ball well, whilst Josh contributed with numerous assists and drives. We played with control and maturity which bodes well for the next round. We are playing Great Baddow school from Essex in the next round and details can be found on the England Basketball Website, Schools competitions, Under 16 Boys Conference. Well done on an excellent season so far.  

NEXT WEEKS FIXTURES

Monday 30th Under 13 Boys v Cheshunt (H)
Tuesday 31st Under 15 Girls v Longdean (A)
Thursday 2nd Under 16 Boys v St Columbas (A)

Under 16 Boys 4 and 0

The Under 16 boys continued their unbeaten run since the start of last season with a comfortable 64 - 32 win against St Mary's in the County League. Playing well within themselves, the boys controlled the game from start to finish with a mature all round team performance. No one dominated the points scoring and it was great to see the whole team operating as a unit and trusting each other in all facets of the game. It is very easy to showboat or play as an individual in a relatively comfortable game like this and it was pleasing to see a thoughtful approach from the whole squad. Hemel are next tomorrow in the Nationals and that will certainly be a more challenging fixture.

Squad: Kieron (c), Jack, Max, Jamie, Aidan, Ben.

Under 16 Boys win again in the Nationals

Well done to the Under 16 Boys who defeated Sandringham for the second time this season to move within one win of the Regional section of the ESBBA Nationals. A sluggish first half performance which saw us leading by 9 was turned around in the second half where our more aggressive defence and stronger rebounding saw us finish 82 - 64 winners. Kieron top scored with 20 points but the whole squad played contributed to the win. Max and Jamie rebounded well in the second half, with Jamie hitting his mid range shots consistently. Josh and Ben gave us a good platform from point guard whil st Jack and Aidan drove well to the basket. A win against Hemel next Wednesday will see us progress from the group. Well done on an excellent unbeaten start.

No Under 15 girls game tomorrow

There is no Under 15 girls basketball game tomorrow against Turnford. They have withdrawn from the league due to a lack of interest from their players. Apologies for the lack of games so far, hopefully we will get  some fixtures played before half term!

Year 7 & 8 boys results this week

The Year 7 boys team played their second game in the District League on Wednesday. Against an athletic and competitive Verulam team we lost 27 - 14, improving in the fourth quarter but struggling against solid man to man defence and finding it hard to defend well against strong dribbling.
The year 8 boys played tonight against Hitchin Boys in the County League. With Zach and Jacob missing through injury it meant other boys would get more court time. The whole squad made the best of it, winning 65 - 49 against a previously undefeated team this season. We drove the ball to the basket strongly (particularly Lewis, Will and Joe) and worked hard individually on defence. One more win in the league should mean we have a good chance of qualifying for the County semi finals. Well done to the whole squad for an excellent team performance. Individual stats for these games should be on the blog by Monday. 

Under 15 Boys back on track

An excellent 80 - 12 win for the Under 15 boys in their second County League match against Chauncy suggests that we could still make the County semi finals. An excellent captains performance from Aidan and direct driving to the basket by Ben was backed up well by some positive, and intelligent offence from the rest of the squad. The team passed the ball very well at times and, even with conditions put on the team to challenge them, they scored freely and with fluency. Will Moroney (year 8) passed the ball with confidence and disguise while playing point, whilst Lewis Montgomery Moore (also year 8) and Joe Matos (year 9) drove to the basket with confidence. Dan and Luke rebounded very well, with Dan hitting 12 points, his best return of the season. Jake also rebounded well, moved off the ball and maintained possession as well as he has done all season. A pleasing result, both in score line and in the intelligence shown on court when challenged by a variety of conditions on play. Well done to the whole squad and particularly to those boys who stepped up one or even two age groups!     

Year 7 Boys win their first match

Congratulations to the year 7 boys squad who won their first District League match 30 - 6 against Sir John Lawes this evening. An excellent defensive display coupled with some slick passing at times meant that we have made a very encouraging start to the season. If we can improve our shot selection and technique, and pivot into triple threat every time we get the ball, we will become even more effective as a team. Squad players can check their stats on the year 7 page and can vote for their player of the match. Our next match in the District League is away, next Wednesday against Verulam. Well done to the whole squad.