Amidst a dearth of league fixtures which leaves us with a spell of 1 competitive game in 10 weeks, I arranged a friendly in the not-so-nearby Northamptonshire to play Northants Lightning U14s last Sunday. As is the norm, this was one of many games which clash with Mystics u16 I so Mojan, Anya and Tiana were once again unavailable, as was Sophie O whose glass ankle gave way for a second time last week.

This meant it would be a good test for the remaining 12 Mystics U14 I squad. Fortunately, most of them are good at tests! In the event, the match was as keenly contested as the annual games of crazy golf I have with my wife (who keeps the score card whenever she wins!) Lightning stormed (!) into an early lead and first impressions were that this was going to be as tough as an arithmetic exam for an innumerate candidate. 

Some magic from Mystics (!) quickly restored parity but it wasn’t easy containing  well-drilled (their coach might be a dentist), physically strong opponents intent on driving hard to basket whether there was an open path or not. Despite not wearing body armour or crash helmets, Jane, Akeala and Neeusha courageously did all they could to minimise this threat to both the basket and their well-being. 

As the game progressed, Elsa, Eniola and Adele also put themselves in line for a gallantry award by way of some effective help defence. Eniola further assisted our cause with some very determined defensive rebounding. Offensively, in the first quarter, the excellent Mya and the effervescent Lola T demonstrated their prowess from the short corner with shooting accurate enough to to win a coconut at a fairground. Our 1 point  lead after 10 minutes became 5 by half-time thanks mainly to late baskets by the ever-improving Elsa, 3 in a row from the inspired Sophie B plus the move of the game involving Lola P and Jane.

After the break, despite no half-time oranges or cups of tea, we re-started well but fell away in the latter stages (possibly due to a lack of breath caused by too much singing on the journey!) and were 38-39 down with 9 minutes remaining. The team’s togetherness and wonderful team spirit then helped us turn things around. Jane’s one-person full-court press proved more fruitful than many an orchard. It produced as many steals as a kleptomaniac in overdrive. Our impressive team defensive transition, exemplified by Alycia, Neeusha, Adele and Lola T, nullified Lightning’s appropriately named fast break. An eye-catching score from Fatima drew thunderous (!) applause from the capacity crowd and 2 free throws (which were harder to come by than a kept promise from a politician) from the reliable Akeala sealed the deal at 56-48 to bring just reward for a team display full of all-out effort and determination.

Sincere thanks to Louise and Darren for going above and beyond to help us out. Unfortunately, there is still no venue for our Thursday evening training sessions but we do have a game vs Mystics u16 III this Saturday at 12.30.

Best wishes to both my readers.

Any Mystics I versus Mystics II can be as welcome as a severe dose of cramp at 3 o’clock in the morning. As Mystics I coach, you don’t want to run up a huge margin of victory (50+) but you certainly don’t want the embarrassment of a really close game (10 or less.) This impacts on your team selection. How many of your strongest players do you omit in an attempt to be considered ‘a jolly good sport’ by the Mystics II coach? Which of their players should you have chosen to be in Mystics I? Horror of horrors, what if the unthinkable happens and you actually lose the game? (Headline on Sky Sports News: ‘Youth team basketball coach goes into hiding.’)

After many sleepless nights deciding (not really), the talented quartet of Anya (with a ‘y’), Jane, Fatima and Alycia didn’t feature for us. 3 of them came to watch and 1 was playing football for England U15s. (No, not Fatima!) To begin, I resisted the Temptation(s) (my favourite group – ask an old person!) to go with my preferred starting 5. Mystics II took advantage of my generosity/naivety to draw first blood. They looked very lively and were very much our equals (another good group) at 12-12. An even first quarter ended with us 16-12 to the good despite an unconvincing opening 10 minutes. (We normally play in red but they were in red this time and our confusion caused us to occasionally pass to a player in red!)

I thought about using an alarm clock to get my team to wake up but, instead, invited them to up their defence and start moving the basketball instead of dribbling the seams off it. They listened and performed significantly better from then on. I was pleased with our team defence in the second period which limited our worthy opponent s to just 3 baskets over the 10 minutes. That said, they did very well to restrict us to a below par 16 points.

We had discussed find ways to improve our fast break potential and putting theory into practice, we ran in 45 points in the second half in an impressive display from all 12 players. To their credit, Mystics II posted 27 points of their own to make the final score 77-45, neither a huge margin nor too close for comfort. Our opponents had thrown us a banana skin but we prefer strawberries!

In theory, an away trip to Bury to play Lancashire Spinners U14s doesn’t take as long as it does to cook a Sunday roast. It took us even longer than that yesterday due to the fact that we had to contend with the fact that every car owner in Greater Manchester and Lancashire decided to take their cars out for an evening spin!

The resultant late arrival for our players and kit left us with a severely curtailed warm-up session. Instead of our usual 30 minutes, we were afforded a less-than-generous 2 minutes to prepare. This was about as useful as asking the girls to warm-up by sucking a peppermint in an igloo!

Unsurprisingly, we under-performed in the first quarter, initially falling behind when scoring appeared to be as difficult as eating soup with a fork. We managed to draw level at 12-12 before hitting our stride in the second quarter which we won 16-9 with our 8 baskets shared amongst 6 players.

I asked for a fast start after half-time and that’s precisely what I was given!  At times, we had been guilty of too much unnecessary dribbling but now no bibs were required as we replaced this with incisive ball and player movement. This yielded 23 points in 10 minutes to make the outcome as safe as a safe!

I was now able to change players as often as Italy changes its Prime Minister throughout the fourth period without compromising the outcome. We still managed to shade the quarter 15-14 to emerge with a hard-fought, fully deserved 66-48 victory over worthy opponents.

I was pleased with with number of scoring opportunities we created when we kept things simple to share the basketball rather than dribbling it into areas more congested than Tokyo (the world’s most densely populated capital city.) Our rebounding became more and more impressive as the game progressed and all 12 Mystics made positive contributions on and off the bench.

That said, the most gratifying aspect for me, as with the away game at Sheffield, was that 2 of those not playing on this occasion again turned up to support their team-mates and friends. The team spirit amongst this group is sky high. This will pay dividends in close games. Despite being happy with the win the girls seemed more delighted with the claim that they had surpassed the target I set of 5 box outs by 1 to receive the reward of donuts for all which I made in a moment of weakness. I shall refrain from demanding a recount and search some out for Sunday or Monday. 

As always, many thanks to Louise and James for all they do and to all parent taxi drivers. Your support was much-appreciated and most apparent. See you on Sunday.

MILTON KEYNES BREAKERS  86  MANCHESTER MYSTICS II  62

An away quarter-final tie requiring a 300+ mile round trip to darkest Buckinghamshire to play the country’s number 2 seed sounds daunting for any U14 1st team. That was the latest challenge facing Mystics U14 II and a mere 4 minutes in, with the scoreboard reading 0-11 it appeared to be on a par with someone falling off a cliff – one step too far.

A time-out to insist that nerves needed to disappear plus a suggestion that attempting to beat the land speed record on every possession was not the way to go, was made and heeded. All 5 Mystics showed the obedience displayed by champion sheep dogs to turn things round.

Despite sounding more like an urban street dance crew, Milton Keynes Breakers are a well-drilled, lightning quick side. Nevertheless, by moving the basketball with speed and precision instead of opting to over-dribble which had proved to be as fruitless as a dead apple tree, we went on a stunning 21-12 run to bring the score to 21-23. With the momentum heavily in our favour, foul trouble (which dogged us throughout) forced me to take a key player off (not Chubb or Yale!).

Now unable to use the defensive match-ups which were causing problems for the opposition, the deficit swelled to 15 by half-time as confidence began to sag in some of our players. My half-time cosy little chat focused on self-belief and simple strategies for combatting a 5 out offense with clear outs for one on one drives to basket.

At least one of them must have listened because we totally bossed the third quarter even with having to endure more foul trouble – in this case not a troublesome chicken! We won this 10 minute period 23-18, in no small part thanks to an incredible 16 points from our inspired captain in the quarter. 

In the ascendancy once more, this time our momentum was hampered by 2 loud spurious claims. The first, which appeared to come either from an adult on Milton Keynes’ bench, or someone hiding under it, felt it worthwhile to inform everyone that ‘combination defences are not permitted at this level.’ ?????? Possibly as baffled by this as everyone else was, a home supporter seemed to disagree. ‘It’s a zone,’ he shouted. I can only assume that this was code for ‘That can be the only reason why they are catching up.’

He could have been a VIP because without evidence or consideration, the referees suddenly (and immediately) came over to tell me we were playing a zone! My assistant, James and I both explained simply and factually why this was not the case. Both team’s defences were similar and remained as they had been throughout. One referee listened intently and seemed to waver. The other one didn’t. Ten seconds later he charged us with a technical foul for playing a zone!

Although this didn’t have a huge impact on the eventual outcome, it did throw us out of our stride at the beginning of the fourth period. We missed 5 early lay-ups in a row which resulted in 8 breakaway points at the other end. That plus mounting foul trouble caused the game to gradually slip away. This prompted me to make liberal substitutions throughout the final 6 minutes with such frequency that some players thought they were coming while others thought they were going and vice versa! Our opponents capitalised upon this to stretch the margin to a flattering 24.

This is not a true reflection of how tough a contest it was for both sides.  Milton Keynes coped well with our superior size, shot exceedingly well from their multitude of free throws (garnered from the massive total of 31 fouls awarded against us) and got a number of steals from their press when we had bench players on the floor. Our never-say-die youngsters played their hearts out but struggled defensively with the opposition’s pace and organisation.

There is always likely to be disappointment after a defeat but it is imperative to lose with grace and dignity without blame. On this occasion, the team who made less mistakes won the game but I do believe that if we played them again things might be different! 

Jim