I am so proud of Mystics’ U14 I’s performance against a powerful Birmingham Rockets who are almost certainly one of the top 4 U14 teams in the country. They may be called Rockets but it was Mystics who provided most of the fireworks. We had a whole team of sparklers on show in this game!

In the away fixture, every quarter was tighter than Pavarotti in a size 10 shirt. The first 2 periods here mirrored that as we shaded both by 3 points to give us a 6 point half-time lead at 38-32. During the break, I re-iterated how to deal with Birmingham’s press and how difficult they would find it to cope with our offensive transition as the game wore on. I also explained that some of our help defence needed tweaking. What occurred over the next 10 minutes had to be seen to be believed. 

Birmingham average 80+ points per game this season. In the third quarter here they scored precisely zero! The way Mystics moved the basketball and defended as a unit was as good as I can remember at this level. We won the quarter 16-0 to go 22 up going into the final stanza. Despite running the bench, we still managed to come out on top 20-18 to record a 74-50 victory over tough opponents. There were undoubtedly several outstanding individual performances but this display was essentially a whole team effort where our wonderful team spirit shone through once again.

The Birmingham coach was gracious in defeat and even praised the officials which was nice to here.

Less than an hour later, the 10 players who did us proud were in action again plus 2 recruits to take on Mersey U16s. I shared court time equitably throughout the game and all 12 made positive contributions, particularly on defence. We won the first have comfortably by 20 and understandably eased off after the break as heavy legs kicked in. Nevertheless, a 62-42 win maintained the team’s 100% winning record over 17 games in both U14 and U16 leagues so far.

Many thanks to James, Annmarie, the table officials and our wonderful supporters for helping to make this a truly memorable occasion. Next up, Liverpool U16s away on 11 January, followed by Spinners U14s away on 19th January.