Published: 17/02/2010 00:00 -
Updated: 12/03/2010 01:22
Under-14 Boys Midland Conference
Northants Thunder 105
Wellingborough Phoenix 23
The Northants Thunder Under 14 Boys retained their unbeaten record and remain firmly on course to become Conference champions with a big win over local rivals Wellingborough Phoenix.
Thunder totally dominated the game with the Wellingborough boys failing to get to double figures in any of the four periods.
In an excellent team performance all ten Thunder players scored led by Jamie Percival with a 16 point haul while Emanuel Burton, Billy Fox, Kamisi Fawehihmi Alex Lewis and Andrew Usher, and all scored in double figures.
Junior Men's Premier League North
Stockport Falcons 89
Northants Moulton 62
A combination of injuries and Study Week activities meant that the Northants Moulton Junior Men travelled to the north-west for their Premier League fixture against Stockport Falcons with just seven players.
This was reduced to six when back up point guard Bertie Robinson rolled an ankle after less than a minute on court.
Falcons hit Moulton with an aggressive trapping defence which cause the Northants boys a lot of problems and by the end of the first quarter had fallen 22-12 behind.
In the second period of play the home side extended this press to full court and Moulton totally lost their composure. Stockport went on 10-0 and 11-0 charges, limiting Moulton to just six points in the period while scoring 30 themselves.
With a half time score of 52-18 and absolute slaughter was on the cards and during the break Coach John Collins tried to convince his players that they could cope with the pressure and did have the weapons to counter it.
After an early Falcons score Moulton showed that their coach was correct and on three occasions they demolished the Stockport press with slick passing ending in uncontested lay ups. Suddenly there was a spring in the step of the Moulton players and they proceeded to take the period 22-19.
Any thought that Stockport had taken their foot off the gas was dispelled by the talking to they were getting from their coach and Falcons came out for the final quarter fired up for action.
By now Moulton were playing with confidence and the final ten minutes was keenly contested with Moulton closing with a half court trapping defence of their own which caused Falcons a lot of problems.
Moulton duly took the period 22-18 winning the second half 44-37 to leave them wondering what might have had it not been for that dreadful second quarter.
The Moulton players left Cheadle disappointed that they had been beaten by 27 points but proud of their second half efforts which resulted in a 20 minute ear-bashing' for the Stockport players.
For Moulton all six players gave everything led by a 16 point haul from Jordan Nembhard. Both Ben Budgen and Jacob Holt recorded double-doubles with 11 and 13 points respectively while Merson Paul contributed 13 points and rebounded superbly.
Junior Men's Midlands Conference
Shropshire Warriors 70
Northants Thunder 66 (OT)
The Northants Thunder Junior Men lost another overtime game and faced the journey home from Shropshire contemplating the fact that they should have won in regular time and a return of just five from fourteen attempts from the free throw line.
Both teams found scoring difficult in the first quarter Thunder pulling back from a 7-2 deficit to tie the scores but then allowed Warriors to go on a 7-4 run and so trailed 14-11 at the end of the period.
Thunder were guilty of some very loose play in the second period turning the ball over repeatedly and missing easy scoring opportunities. The scores were tied at 16 all over the period so giving the home side a 30-27 half time advantage.
Warriors started the brighter of the two teams in the third quarter but then Thunder clicked into gear and played their basketball of the game. They took the period 17-15 and at 45-44 down were right back in the game.
Thunder maintained their momentum in the final period of play and with less than two minutes remaining led by four points. They then turned the ball over twice and allowed Warriors to tie the scores up at 58 all.
Early in the overtime period Warriors leading scorer Parry fouled out of the game but this seemed to spur on the home team who went on to take the overtime period 12-8 and the game 70-66.
Coach Rob Eddon was bitterly disappointed by his team's performance in which only James Rutter and Karston Webb were able to get into double figures.
Cadet Men Premier League North
Trafford 73
Northants Thunder 71
Not for the first time this season the Northants Thunder Cadet Boys were involved in a close game but came out on the wrong end of the final score line.
Against Trafford the county boys finished two points light after recovering from a 40-33 half time deficit.
Thunder put in a tremendous defensive shift in the third quarter restricting their opponents to just nine points while scoring 15 themselves.
This got Thunder to within one point of Trafford at 49-48 in a contrast which had become a battle between Thunder's fast break basketball and Trafford's perimeter shooting.
Trafford took the fourth period 24-23 with a significant statistic being the fact that the home side shot 12 free throws in that period while Thunder shot none.
In the narrow loss Piers Toone tops cored with 20 points. Matt Yates supported well with 16 points while Ben Care contributed 14 points and Garnet Walters 10.
Junior Women's Midlands South Conference
Woking Blackhawks 71
Northants Lightning 69
After a long journey the Northants Lightning Junior Women were confronted by a freezing cold gym. This, allied to a Woking side that were pumped up for the game, made life uncomfortable for the county girls and in the first quarter they could hit just one shot from the field.
They managed to keep in touch from the free throw line and at the end of period trailed 19-7.
To make life even more difficult for Lightning, Coach Sue Elliott-King suffered a severe migraine at the start of the second quarter. Despite this handicap Lightning took the period 24-19 to reduce the deficit to 38-31 at half time
In a game that was becoming increasingly physical Woking began to win the battle of the boards taking the third quarter 19-15 to open up a 57-46 lead.
Lightning refused to capitulate and managed a final period scoring charge which saw them take the quarter 23-14 but end up two points short of their opponents at the final whistle in what had been a keenly contested and well refereed game from the opening tip-off.
For Lightning, Imogene Aisbett battled tirelessly at both ends of the court scoring seven points, but their scoring was led by Ayesha Hillman with 20 points and she was well supported by Katie Bayliss with 14.
Cadette Women's Midlands Conference
Northants Lightning 51
Hatfield Fliers 38
The Northants Lightning Under-16 Girls recorded a 13 points win over a determined Hatfield "Fliers" team thanks to an excellent second quarter.
This came after the first period ended tied at 13 points each and saw Lightning get into their running game for the only time in the contest giving them a half time lead of 30-19.
Fliers battled hard in the final two periods of play but couldn't eat into the Northants lead the county girls getting home thanks to 15 points from Lois Bain.
No other Lightning player could get into double figures but Coach Brian Johnson was pleased with the efforts put in by Faye Clarke, Isobel Johns and Karla Pinney
Under-13 Boys Midlands Conference
Leicester Dynamite 25
Northants Ballers 58
Ilkeston Outlaws 18
Northants Ballers 73
In the first game of the season the Northants Ballers lost a game against Leicester Dynamite after establishing a healthy lead. There was no similar mistake last Saturday at the Watershed Centre in Leicester.
Hard nosed defence was combined with some fast break basketball while George Paul added a perimeter threat to the team with three, three-pointers.
When shots were missed the mercurial Josh Round was on hand to use his height advantage to convert put backs.
After the 33 points win Ballers came up against an inexperienced Ilkeston Outlaws team. Coach John Collins was able to use some players who had supported well from the bench during the win against Dynamite.
These players didn't let their coach down with all twelve players getting on the score sheet as Ballers recorded a 50 points plus win.
Ballers have played in a very tough Conference losing three games in overtime. They will almost certainly finish in fourth place in the Conference which means they won't qualify for the end of season play-offs
Under-13 Boys Midlands South Conference
Northants Thunder 27
Wellingborough Phoenix 70
Northants Thunder 21
Birmingham A's 41
The Thunder Under-13 Boys suffered two defeats last weekend but showed that they are beginning to make progress.
Against a talented Wellingborough Phoenix team they created numerous scoring opportunities both from the broken floor and rebounding situations.
Missing these easy shots seriously affected the confidence of the team who ended up losing by a margin rather larger than it should have been.
Birmingham A's fielded one very talented players and the defensive aim of Coach Neil Price was to help out as much as possible on this player.
This led to a dispute about the legality of Thunder's defence so allowing the Birmingham star to have free reign and lead his team to victory.
Over the two games the undoubted star for Thunder was Pedrag Nikic who led his team in scoring and rebounding as well as playing some hard nosed defence.
Under-14 Girls Midlands South Conference
Northants Lightning 30
Herts Warriors 65
Northants Lightning 27
Sevenoaks Suns 66
Earlier in the season the Northants Under 14 Girls lost by 96 points to Herts Warriors so last weekend's 35 point loss could be looked on as a massive improvement.
Lightning were helped by the services of Lois Bain who scored seven points - a total matched by Siobhan Smith and Georgia Brown.
Against a very tall Sevenoaks team which dominated the rebounding at both ends of the court, Lightning put up a determined effort before going down. Bain once again led her team's scoring.
Northants Thunder 105
Wellingborough Phoenix 23
The Northants Thunder Under 14 Boys retained their unbeaten record and remain firmly on course to become Conference champions with a big win over local rivals Wellingborough Phoenix.
Thunder totally dominated the game with the Wellingborough boys failing to get to double figures in any of the four periods.
In an excellent team performance all ten Thunder players scored led by Jamie Percival with a 16 point haul while Emanuel Burton, Billy Fox, Kamisi Fawehihmi Alex Lewis and Andrew Usher, and all scored in double figures.
Junior Men's Premier League North
Stockport Falcons 89
Northants Moulton 62
A combination of injuries and Study Week activities meant that the Northants Moulton Junior Men travelled to the north-west for their Premier League fixture against Stockport Falcons with just seven players.
This was reduced to six when back up point guard Bertie Robinson rolled an ankle after less than a minute on court.
Falcons hit Moulton with an aggressive trapping defence which cause the Northants boys a lot of problems and by the end of the first quarter had fallen 22-12 behind.
In the second period of play the home side extended this press to full court and Moulton totally lost their composure. Stockport went on 10-0 and 11-0 charges, limiting Moulton to just six points in the period while scoring 30 themselves.
With a half time score of 52-18 and absolute slaughter was on the cards and during the break Coach John Collins tried to convince his players that they could cope with the pressure and did have the weapons to counter it.
After an early Falcons score Moulton showed that their coach was correct and on three occasions they demolished the Stockport press with slick passing ending in uncontested lay ups. Suddenly there was a spring in the step of the Moulton players and they proceeded to take the period 22-19.
Any thought that Stockport had taken their foot off the gas was dispelled by the talking to they were getting from their coach and Falcons came out for the final quarter fired up for action.
By now Moulton were playing with confidence and the final ten minutes was keenly contested with Moulton closing with a half court trapping defence of their own which caused Falcons a lot of problems.
Moulton duly took the period 22-18 winning the second half 44-37 to leave them wondering what might have had it not been for that dreadful second quarter.
The Moulton players left Cheadle disappointed that they had been beaten by 27 points but proud of their second half efforts which resulted in a 20 minute ear-bashing' for the Stockport players.
For Moulton all six players gave everything led by a 16 point haul from Jordan Nembhard. Both Ben Budgen and Jacob Holt recorded double-doubles with 11 and 13 points respectively while Merson Paul contributed 13 points and rebounded superbly.
Junior Men's Midlands Conference
Shropshire Warriors 70
Northants Thunder 66 (OT)
The Northants Thunder Junior Men lost another overtime game and faced the journey home from Shropshire contemplating the fact that they should have won in regular time and a return of just five from fourteen attempts from the free throw line.
Both teams found scoring difficult in the first quarter Thunder pulling back from a 7-2 deficit to tie the scores but then allowed Warriors to go on a 7-4 run and so trailed 14-11 at the end of the period.
Thunder were guilty of some very loose play in the second period turning the ball over repeatedly and missing easy scoring opportunities. The scores were tied at 16 all over the period so giving the home side a 30-27 half time advantage.
Warriors started the brighter of the two teams in the third quarter but then Thunder clicked into gear and played their basketball of the game. They took the period 17-15 and at 45-44 down were right back in the game.
Thunder maintained their momentum in the final period of play and with less than two minutes remaining led by four points. They then turned the ball over twice and allowed Warriors to tie the scores up at 58 all.
Early in the overtime period Warriors leading scorer Parry fouled out of the game but this seemed to spur on the home team who went on to take the overtime period 12-8 and the game 70-66.
Coach Rob Eddon was bitterly disappointed by his team's performance in which only James Rutter and Karston Webb were able to get into double figures.
Cadet Men Premier League North
Trafford 73
Northants Thunder 71
Not for the first time this season the Northants Thunder Cadet Boys were involved in a close game but came out on the wrong end of the final score line.
Against Trafford the county boys finished two points light after recovering from a 40-33 half time deficit.
Thunder put in a tremendous defensive shift in the third quarter restricting their opponents to just nine points while scoring 15 themselves.
This got Thunder to within one point of Trafford at 49-48 in a contrast which had become a battle between Thunder's fast break basketball and Trafford's perimeter shooting.
Trafford took the fourth period 24-23 with a significant statistic being the fact that the home side shot 12 free throws in that period while Thunder shot none.
In the narrow loss Piers Toone tops cored with 20 points. Matt Yates supported well with 16 points while Ben Care contributed 14 points and Garnet Walters 10.
Junior Women's Midlands South Conference
Woking Blackhawks 71
Northants Lightning 69
After a long journey the Northants Lightning Junior Women were confronted by a freezing cold gym. This, allied to a Woking side that were pumped up for the game, made life uncomfortable for the county girls and in the first quarter they could hit just one shot from the field.
They managed to keep in touch from the free throw line and at the end of period trailed 19-7.
To make life even more difficult for Lightning, Coach Sue Elliott-King suffered a severe migraine at the start of the second quarter. Despite this handicap Lightning took the period 24-19 to reduce the deficit to 38-31 at half time
In a game that was becoming increasingly physical Woking began to win the battle of the boards taking the third quarter 19-15 to open up a 57-46 lead.
Lightning refused to capitulate and managed a final period scoring charge which saw them take the quarter 23-14 but end up two points short of their opponents at the final whistle in what had been a keenly contested and well refereed game from the opening tip-off.
For Lightning, Imogene Aisbett battled tirelessly at both ends of the court scoring seven points, but their scoring was led by Ayesha Hillman with 20 points and she was well supported by Katie Bayliss with 14.
Cadette Women's Midlands Conference
Northants Lightning 51
Hatfield Fliers 38
The Northants Lightning Under-16 Girls recorded a 13 points win over a determined Hatfield "Fliers" team thanks to an excellent second quarter.
This came after the first period ended tied at 13 points each and saw Lightning get into their running game for the only time in the contest giving them a half time lead of 30-19.
Fliers battled hard in the final two periods of play but couldn't eat into the Northants lead the county girls getting home thanks to 15 points from Lois Bain.
No other Lightning player could get into double figures but Coach Brian Johnson was pleased with the efforts put in by Faye Clarke, Isobel Johns and Karla Pinney
Under-13 Boys Midlands Conference
Leicester Dynamite 25
Northants Ballers 58
Ilkeston Outlaws 18
Northants Ballers 73
In the first game of the season the Northants Ballers lost a game against Leicester Dynamite after establishing a healthy lead. There was no similar mistake last Saturday at the Watershed Centre in Leicester.
Hard nosed defence was combined with some fast break basketball while George Paul added a perimeter threat to the team with three, three-pointers.
When shots were missed the mercurial Josh Round was on hand to use his height advantage to convert put backs.
After the 33 points win Ballers came up against an inexperienced Ilkeston Outlaws team. Coach John Collins was able to use some players who had supported well from the bench during the win against Dynamite.
These players didn't let their coach down with all twelve players getting on the score sheet as Ballers recorded a 50 points plus win.
Ballers have played in a very tough Conference losing three games in overtime. They will almost certainly finish in fourth place in the Conference which means they won't qualify for the end of season play-offs
Under-13 Boys Midlands South Conference
Northants Thunder 27
Wellingborough Phoenix 70
Northants Thunder 21
Birmingham A's 41
The Thunder Under-13 Boys suffered two defeats last weekend but showed that they are beginning to make progress.
Against a talented Wellingborough Phoenix team they created numerous scoring opportunities both from the broken floor and rebounding situations.
Missing these easy shots seriously affected the confidence of the team who ended up losing by a margin rather larger than it should have been.
Birmingham A's fielded one very talented players and the defensive aim of Coach Neil Price was to help out as much as possible on this player.
This led to a dispute about the legality of Thunder's defence so allowing the Birmingham star to have free reign and lead his team to victory.
Over the two games the undoubted star for Thunder was Pedrag Nikic who led his team in scoring and rebounding as well as playing some hard nosed defence.
Under-14 Girls Midlands South Conference
Northants Lightning 30
Herts Warriors 65
Northants Lightning 27
Sevenoaks Suns 66
Earlier in the season the Northants Under 14 Girls lost by 96 points to Herts Warriors so last weekend's 35 point loss could be looked on as a massive improvement.
Lightning were helped by the services of Lois Bain who scored seven points - a total matched by Siobhan Smith and Georgia Brown.
Against a very tall Sevenoaks team which dominated the rebounding at both ends of the court, Lightning put up a determined effort before going down. Bain once again led her team's scoring.
