St Mirren claim second trophy over Fury

Under-16 Women Final

St Mirren won possession from tip, and converted the first shot of the game to take the lead within the opening moments, and then following a successful three point attempt, their lead was quickly extended to 5-0 within the first minute. A delay in play followed due to water on the court, and Fury came back after this short break determined and with good offensive play to score their first points of the game, followed by a three pointer from Robyn MacDonald which however, was soon answered by another outside shot by St Mirren, bringing the score to 10-5. After a closely contested couple of minutes, Fury’s Ailie Gardiner then converted one of two shots from the line, making it 12-6 with four minutes left to play in the first quarter. A foul on St Mirrens Beth Mackie in the last few seconds of the period took Robyn MacDonald to the line, and she made both shots the close to gap to 14-11 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter began with St Mirren scoring off the fast break and pressuring the ball hard on defence to gain possession and extend their lead to 9 points. Fury struggled against the consistent defensive rebounding of Sarah Thomson and St Mirren’s speed on offensive, and called a time out with 6 minutes on the clock and with St Mirren leading 24-12. The following minutes went by with St Mirren continuing to press the ball, and scoring once again on the fast break, with little response from Fury. The half ended with Fury trailing by 17, the score standing at 32-15.

As the second half got under-way, Fury looked to close the gap, and played good solid defence to keep St Mirren out during the opening two minutes. Fury fought hard for every ball and continued to defend well, but failed to score on offence. St Mirren however continued their excellent shooting, and soon extended their lead to 21 points. Baskets from Jennifer Crawford and Robyn Lewis in close succession took the score to 44-19 with just over a minute to play, and although Fury controlled the ball well bringing it up on offence against the press, they struggled to score. The quarter ended 47-19, and St Mirren looking in control of the game.

The fourth quarter proved to be very even for the first 4 minutes, with baskets coming for both sides and the score standing at 51-21, with 5 and a half minutes left to play. Fury were unlucky again not to convert more of their shots on offense, although a run of baskets towards the end of the period brought the score to 55-32. Saints played out the remainder of the game by continuing their excellent shooting and ensuring the win, although Robyn MacDonald hit a 3 on the buzzer which made sure the game ended with the attention on Fury.

Fury head coach Jen Gallacher was however pleased with her teams performance. She praised the way the team kept playing hard right to the very end, and credited all their hard work throughout the season. Lindsay Lang too praised his team, emphasising how well they played on the day. “The girls were awesome,” he said. “They really stepped up big time, and thoroughly deserved to win it today.”

Written by Stacy McDonald

Game Stats (box score)