A study of the U16 northern Conference results make it clear that Leicester Riders have improved significantly since they came to us in October with just 7 players. They are now very well-organised and very physical. These two factors plus the fact that they were two years older than 50% of our team which travelled to the game and three years older than the 5 excellent U13s on show meant we could expect an encounter tougher than an overcooked steak. And so it proved.
We began brightly enough, but some slow closing out on shooters left us trailing 4-9 after 4 minutes. As this group so often does, the girls responded positively coming out of a time-out via 3 baskets from the powerful Emmanuela and one from the ever-consistent Christiana to afford us with a 13-11 lead after 10 hard-fought minutes.
Morgan then gave us the perfect start to the second quarter by swishing 2 medium range shots. This proved to be the catalyst for a dazzling offensive display which yielded a massive 25-second quarter points shared by 7 players plus assists from the other 3. It didn’t matter which defence Leicester threw at us (sometimes literally!), each combination of players we had on court found an answer (which isn’t always the case when I ask them general knowledge questions at training to ascertain which team starts with the ball in scrimmages!)
Our opponents tried 2 types of press, an aggressive half court man defence as well as a 1-3-1 zone in an attempt to slow us down. With 3 outstanding but very different guards in Christiana, Adele and Darcie, plus reliable back up in the less experienced Maisie W, their press was less successful than Man United strikers have been this season as we passed our way through it. We nullified their man to man thanks principally to the pace of Olivia, Christiana and Emmanuela and eventually came to terms with their zone via some impressive outside shooting from Morgan, Zoe, Darcie and most notably Adele, accompanied by a string of offensive rebounds from the ever-dependable Elsa and the much-improved Chichi.
Alternatively, we were more bothered by Leicester’s approach to offense. They did shoot and rebound well but regularly resorted to the battering ram/wrecking ball approach not found in any coaching manual. It consisted of head down, drive as fast as you can in a straight line and go through anyone who dares to get in your way. Unfortunately for Emmanuela’s and Darcie’s well-being, they dared to get in the way. Both now have loose fillings and little ear wax following multiple collisions
which were always deemed to be blocks rather than charges.
Aside from the deserved 73-60 victory, this encounter proved to be very worthwhile in that this young team had to show courage, maturity and togetherness to overcome challenging opponents. Leicester’s very knowledgeable coach told me afterwards that he couldn’t believe an U14 team could perform so impressively against U16s. When I told him 5 of the girls are U13s, he was speechless (which I took as a sign of admiration because he does like to talk!)
A huge thank you to James for his wise words, to Annmarie for being the perfect team manager and to our brilliant driver Kofi as well as to our smaller than usual band of travelling parents. Next up 2 U16 home games – Saturday Teesside and a top of the table clash on Sunday v Leeds Gold.
