Lancashire Schools Basketball Under 14 Girls Final

LANCASHIRE SCHOOLS BASKETBALL
Under 14 Girls Semi-Final
Bacup 65, Broughton 7
The under 14 girls basketball team played in the Lancashire Schools semi-final last night and played very well beating Broughton, Preston by 65 points to 7.

They will now meet Montgomery, Blackpool in the final.

The team:
Ellie Carrick, Sara Davison, Nansi Pallavus, Katie Bickford, Sophie Horrocks, Helen Marston, Alix McDermott, Sim0ne Kelly.

Lancashire Schools Basketball Under 14 Girls Final
Montgomery 39, Bacup 32
15th May 2006 at Darwen Vale High School

From looking at the results in the pool games and semi-finals Bacup appeared to be slight favourites for the final having had better results than Montgomery.Both teams started slowly but it was Montgomery that held the early advantage to lead 9-4 at the first break. The second quarter was tight but at the end of the half Montgomery had extended their lead from 5 to 7 points.

With two so well matched teams; Bacup having the better players but Montgomery playing the better basketball, whichever team took their chances was going to win. With a massive effort in the third quarter, the Bacup girls pulled the score back to within one basket, 27-29, but with so many missed shots and even more missed free throws (scoring only 6 from 27 attempts) the team failed to take the lead and control of the game.

Montgomery's free throw shooting was also keeping the game close as they only managed 5 from 22, but the tall Lauren D kept the points coming finishing second highest scorer on the day with 12.

Montgomery withstood the pressure and with Bacup having 3 of their 5 starters (Sophie Horrocks, Nansi Pallavus and Ellie Carrick) on 4 fouls and one fouled out (Simone Kelly) just couldn’t maintain the pressure. Most of these fouls were committed trying to control the oppositions very quick ball handler (Jade T), who was later awarded the MVP for her overall contribution to the game (top scorer with 13 points, excellent ball handling in offence, good defence).

The missed chances took their toll and Montgomery eventually finished the game with a 7 point advantage to become the first ever Lancashire Schools Basketball under 14 Girls Champions.

The Bacup team…

Katherine Parry, Sophie Horrocks, Nansi Pallavus, Ellie Carrick, Katie Bickford, Helen Marston, Sara Davison, Alix McDermott and Simone Kelly

The Montgomery team

Jade T, Charlotte H, Carly W, Lucy H, Emma S, Francesca N, Lauren D, June K, Fiona N, Suchita W, Lenny B

Lancashire Schools Basketball Under 14 Girls Final