Mystics Reports
Mystics News for 2011 - 12
24 April 2012
U18 Manchester Mystics 57 - 27 U18 Southend
Last week-end is one I will strive to remember for as long as anyone with failing memory can expect! It began well with Mystics U16s taming Ipswich Bobcats in their play-off game. Unfortunately, I could not be there as I was donning my whites to begin my 50th year of playing club cricket. (I started when I was two!) (Incidentally, there was an incident during the game which was featured on Radio Manchester and is on You tube under 'Cow stops play.' It would not moove!)) The feel-good factor was maintained when QPR thrashed Tottering Hotspur 1-0 to leave Arsenal in pole position for 3rd place. To round things off perfectly, on Sunday our U18s beat long-term rivals Southend Swifts and the U14s performed like zombies - they came back from the dead - to somehow beat Sevenoaks by 3. This means that all 3 Mystics teams have qualified for the Final Fours, along with 3 from Haringey Angels, 2 from Sevenoaks Suns plus 1 apiece from Sheffield Hatters, Hertfordshire Warriors, London's Eastside Eagles and Southend Swifts, giving the south an 8-4 edge but Sheffield having the last laugh as they only have to walk round the corner to get to the venue!
For those of you who are non-geographically minded and think that it's never warm in Chile and that it's capital is Con Carne, Southend is part of Essex but the seaside town is actually more famous for its pier and its basketball programme under the indefatigable Steve Pearl than it is for women plastered in make-up who like saying 'shut up' and go in for bejazzling and plastic surgery on all parts of their anatomy! The U18s play-off game against a talented but young Swifts side began in the spirit of the week-end as a whole from my perspective. The defensive pressure exerted by our first 5 of the very enthusiastic Lucy Rogan, the very focused Leah McDerment, the very ill Mollie Campbell, the very blonde Cath Stansfield and the very up-beat Ashley Tensel afforded us an early 10-2 advantage. However, with the very fussy referees initially blowing a very tight game, it also brought us early foul trouble. Ashley only lasted 3 minutes before coming off with 2 personals. The very industrious Megan Collins replaced her and she filled in as smoothly as Polyfilla so that, at 15-3 with 7 minutes gone, we found ourselves similar to models of the bride and groom on a wedding cake - on top and looking good!
Leah was now also blown for her second foul. Her withdrawal, and the subsequent taking off of the very effective press coincided with a 0-6 run from our committed opponents who had too much about them to be taken lightly. The home side did then respond well to a time out and closed out the quarter with scores from the very impressive Hannah Alty and the very tall Katie Rowlands to lead 19-9. Southend's very capable guards seemed far more at ease under less pressure and the reduced tempo inevitably slowed our scoring rate. Even so, Lucy, Hannah, Leah and Nat all managed to score in a 12-5 second period which saw both defences putting up stubborn resistance and which was as exciting as following Formula 1 motor racing on the radio!
A 31-14 half-time lead was as comforting as eating a fresh banana - if you like bananas - when you are very hungry, always remembering to be careful of the skin in case you slip up on it later! The opening 6 minutes of the third stanza saw Mystics dominate further. The outstanding Cath Stansfield and the irrepressible Leah McDerment combined to score all 11 of our points in eye-catching fashion but it was really Mystics' formidable team defence which stood out. The less experienced visitors deserve credit for their resolve, never relenting in their valiant attempts to break through the solid wall but they do not yet possess the physicality to be a genuine inside threat at this level and failed to score for fully 8 minutes. The very promising Megan Jones did give them a Crunchie, sorry, boost with a 3 but this was immediately cancelled out by one of the same from the very determined Cat Meakin to make it 45-19 entering the fourth.
In terms of offensive flair and ingenuity, both defences had ensured that much of the second and third quarters had been as watchable as an after-school netball match in the wind and rain between two primary school teams who both would have preferred to be stuffing their faces at McDonalds! The majority of the fourth period was also as flat as a pancake which had been sat on by a fat bloke! For the first 6 minutes, Mystics defence was so impenetrable that Southend were only permitted a 2 from Amy Rogers and a free throw from Frankie Moody. To be fair, as most people with grey hair wish they were, Mystics were equally flat, struggling to counter a packed key without the services of Mollie, who was showing us what a good cougher she is and Ashley, who, somehow, had racked up 4 fouls, a sore nose and a limp. (If it wasn't for bad luck, today she'd have had no luck at all!) When she did come back on, she, Megan, Cat and Nat - shame we have no Pat or Hat! - did liven up the dying moments with 3 buckets on the break to leave it at 57-27 at the end of an obviously low-scoring game in which neither side gave away any easy scoring opportunities.
In general terms, it is pleasing to note that all 10 Mystics got at least 10 minutes court time, every Swift had at least 7 minutes and that 20 players scored. This is very much in keeping with our season in that 5 of our squad total 200+ points and the other 6 have 100+. On this occasion, we didn't really click offensively often enough, partly due to Southend's determination, partly due to foul trouble and partly due to illness. That said, a 30 point win does constitute a comprehensive victory and this was achieved without anything like the normal contributions from our 2 leading scorers; Mollie's minutes were limited due to a very nasty chest infection. In truth, she should have been at home in bed with Vic - the ointment! - but such is her commitment that Mollie would want to be on court even if rigor mortis had set in! Ashley also found herself getting splinters on the bench for much longer than envisaged for reasons already outlined.
If we can get everyone fully fit and in the right frame of mind for the Final Fours in Sheffield on 5 May and tweak one or two things offensively, the U18 title has a good chance of coming back to us for the first time since 2009. If we take comfort from the saying that it is defence that wins championships, we are in fine shape. No team, including Haringey, Scotland's national U18 team, Scotland's top women's team or any other opponent this season has been able to score more than 53 points against us. Indeed, in a total of 26 games, the average score against us stands at a lowly 34 points per game! Believe in yourselves, work hard during the remaining training sessions, be prepared to take on board some constructive advice and set out to enjoy the occasion in a relaxed yet focused manner and only good things can happen ladies!
10 April 2012
Manchester Mystics 74 - 35 U18 Scotland
U18 Manchester Mystics 57 - 53 U18 Scotland
Scotland invaded England in 1513 when James IV fancied doing battle. He lost. They crossed the border again 499 years later last Saturday but this time with an army of U18s whose coach had requested games against Mystics Senior Women and also our U18s in preparation for Scotland's forthcoming U18 European Championships. Although there was far less blood this time, they lost again.
It was always going to be like trying to climb Ben Nevis in flip-flops - an uphill struggle - for them in the game against our seniors. Mystics' superior physical strength and greater experience proved to be huge obstacles but, to their credit, the visitors keep going right to the end in what was Mystics final game of a long, successful season. The first half display from Mystics was full of familiar performances from everyone. Nicki Blakeway proved difficult to stop inside. Jamie Curtis showed why she should take up sewing - she threaded passes through the eye of a needle. Emma Macready shot well from the corner and looked dangerous when driving the baseline - we all know how dangerous women drivers can be! Jade Lucas was again as predictable as the English weather - sometimes hot, sometimes cold but we wouldn't swap it/her for anything else. Our junior contingent gave us energy and pace off the bench and helped us maintain our defensive intensity. All this, plus a long-awaited first game of the season for Rehana Khalil (who is either injury prone or just lazy!) resulted in a 47-16 half-time scoreline.
We eased the defensive pressure after the break and the Scots took advantage to win the third period 12-13 as we attempted to play some zone for the first time this season. We looked as at home as an Eskimo in the desert! We reverted to half-court man in the fourth and eased through 15-6 to record a comfortable 74-35 victory. Typically, the points were shared with Nicki, Emma, Rehana and Megan Collins all in double figures and everyone else contributing at both ends. The only negative aspect to the game was a nasty injury to the vastly improved Natalie Feurtado whose thigh collided with an opponent's raised knee and for once, Nat came off second best, leaving her unavailable for the u18 game which followed. (She's lazy, too!)
The next match-up was certain to be a far more realistic proposition for the Tartan Army. Their national team against one of England's top junior sides. The outcome of this one was as tricky to pick on as it would be to decide who is a biggest diver out of Nani and Ashley Young or who is the biggest crook out of Dick Turpin and Harry Redknapp! With Mollie Campbell away on England duty, I promoted Hannah Alty to the starting 5 to accompany Lucy Rogan, Leah McDerment, Ashley Tensel and Cath Stansfield. What we lacked in height we made up for in steel (and steals!). Significantly out-heighted, when we tried to go inside, Mystics were initially like ex-England football legend Billy Wright was when his wife Joy, of Beverley Sisters fame, left him - we had no joy! We did, however, have Lucy and Ashley. Their determined drives drew fouls and this brought about points from free throws to keep us in touch at the end of a first quarter which Scotland deservedly won 9-15.
The speed of H.Wood and the size and strength of H.Peacock inside had caused us problems and some of our decision making had not been up to its usual high standard. By alternating Megan Collins and Lucy Rogan on Wood, introducing the less vertically challenged Katie Rowlands (who is taller than anyother Mystic on show even when they are on stilts!) and by attacking off the dribble rather than putting up speculative shots with no rebounding, we went on an 11-0 spree during the opening 6 minutes of the second period. This was Mystics at their very best. Hannah Alty started to crash the offensive boards, Leah McDerment mixed her game up so that she became a real threat on both the perimeter and in the paint and Katie Rowlands finished well as she was well found by both Leah and Ashley Tensel. These 6 players also played such intense defence together that their opponents must have been left wondering where their next point was coming from.
It eventually came from me! My well-rehearsed party trick of making wholesale substitutions reminded me of an old banger I used to possess. (That's a car, not an ex-girlfriend!) It back-fired! In less than 3 minutes, we went from 20-15 to 23-27 as we failed to get out to their shooters, turned the ball over at an alarming rate and were generally as sloppy as porridge with a triple overdose of milk in it!
Greater consistency was needed in both that porridge and our performance if we were to come away with a victory against a well-organised, determined outfit who had plenty of pace and size. Our team display during the next 12 minutes was as good as anything I have seen from any U18 side this season. It began with a medium-range swisher from Leah, a free throw from our best defensive rebounder, Cath Stansfield and a 3 from the irrepressible Ashley. It ended with 2 consecutive 3s from the hugely influential Leah on the back of a brace of 2s from the brilliant Hannah and a breakaway 2 from the tireless Lucy. With 8 minutes remaining, Mystics' mental toughness and relentlessly positive approach had transformed an 8 point deficit into an 11 point lead at 48-37.
Our opponents, however, were in no mood to capitulate and put up far more resistance than James IV did at the Battle of Flodden Field just before Donald was born! As often happens in games between two evenly matched sides, both are liable to go on mini-runs. Scotland did just that. Inspired by H.Wood, they brought it back to 2 at 51-49 with 2 minutes on the clock and the flow was very much now with them at this late stage. Mystics then showed their class. They refused to panic and played percentage basketball to see out a terrific game 57-53 with 2 buckets off of powerful drives from Ashley and a swisher from Cat Meakin from her favourite corner spot.
The game proved to be ideal preparation for our U18 play-of quarter final on 22 April at home to Southend Swifts who, like Scotland, are efficient, well-drilled, difficult to beat and well-coached.
Jim 10/4/12
3 April 2012
Manchester Mystics 76 - 77* Loughborough Student Riders
Any team on the wrong end of a 1-point play-off Semi-final scoreline is bound to be bitterly disappointed, but Manchester Mystics can take some comfort from their contribution to a wonderfully exciting encounter with Loughborough Student Riders at the Amaechi Centre last Saturday, in which the real winner was Women's basketball. In view of the previous meeting between the 2 Clubs in February's National Trophy Final which Manchester came from behind to steal 66-60 in the last minute with a 10-0 run, a keenly contested tie that was likely to go down to the wire was predicted. So it proved.
This game provided more ups and downs than a big dipper ride at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, with 2 evenly-matched sides going on mini-runs but neither able to completely shake off the other. The mental toughness on display was of the highest order and even Agatha Christie would have struggled to offer up anything as thrilling as this!
The 1st quarter belonged very much to Manchester. With a distinct height disadvantage - the appropriately named Mansfield Giants would look more like Mansfield Midgets in comparison to Loughborough! - Mystics opted to press from the start and looked to push the ball up the floor at every opportunity. Fuelled by the boundless energy of Jade Lucas, who had 12 of her team's first 16 points, the home side ran in a creditable 24 points with apparent ease in the opening 10 minutes to establish their initial superiority. As expected, Loughborough's main threat from the outset came in the form of 6'3 Estonian international Maaja Bratka, a name which wouldn't get many points in Scrabble but invariably does when it comes to basketball! To compound problems in the paint for Mystics, today she received admirable support from the equally lofty Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby, who, as her name suggests, performed like 2 players!
Harriet quickly cashed in on her opponent's 'shortage' of height to score the last 2 buckets of the first half to reduce Manchester's lead to single figures at 7. Encouragingly for the leaders, 4 of their 6 talented U18 contingent had dispelled their nerves and had already opened their account.
Loughborough came out to start the 2nd period in a 2-3 zone, presumably in an attempt to slow down the opposition's scoring rate. A 3 from Jade Lucas and a deep 2 from Leah McDerment prompted an immediate re-think, and their difficulty in inbounding the ball against Mystics' hard-working press continued. The visitors then changed tack and went smaller and much quicker. It proved to be a game-changing move. The speedy Zainya Reyes and Natalia Michalak got on the end of some pin-point feeds from the unflappable Lisa Roberts who managed to play 35 minutes without turning the ball over. Well played Lisa! With less trees around, Mystics 2 tallest players, the 6ft Mollie Campbell and the towering 5'10 figure of Cath Stansfield made the most of it to convert 3 times inside to extend the margin back out to 10 at 42-32 by half-time, with all 10 Mystics having had at least 1 meaningful block of court time and all having made useful contributions. This included the effervescent Megan Collins, who unfortunately did not get the chance to re-appear.
Whoever made the most positive start coming out of the interval was bound to have a big say in setting the tone for the rest of this game. Loughborough emerged like Bruce Willis on the warpath - all guns blazing. Manchester came out like Bruce Forsyth on the cycle path - all joints creaking! Their usually reliable help-side was like Lord Lucan in thick fog - nowhere to be seen! This, along with a sudden disinclination to box out immediately resulted in the deficit being halved to 5, as the dangerous Gillian Baird came to life. Up to now, Gillian had been involved in an intriguing match-up with Nicki Blakeway which saw 2 of the country's highest female scorers act like Tippex to more or less cancel each other out. Gillian seized the moment as soon as Nicki was forced (by way of a full Nelson!) to sit down on committing her third foul for the extremely rare offense in the women's game of 'hooking.' (No female athlete wants to be labelled as a 'hooker!') In hindsight, such a call could be considered to have been on the cards bearing in mind that, after a free-flowing first half, the game was now being called far more tightly.
Manchester's young side appeared shaken by events since the break but nevertheless regained their composure with 5 points from the dynamic Natalie Feurtado on the break and a 3 from Jamie Curtis to move it to 54-46 going into the 4th. It looked as though they had weathered the storm but Loughborough had shown that they were unlike a glass-jawed boxer and certainly wouldn't take it lying down!
Had they let Mystics off the hook? An early whistle on Mollie Campbell, her fourth, again for 'hooking' indicated, in more ways than one, that they hadn't. Further whistles on Nicki Blakeway and Jade Lucas made it 3 starters on 4 fouls and consequently, also on the bench. Loughborough utilised their superior experience and current even greater height advantage to exploit the situation - Mystics 2 tallest players on court were both 5'9 in high heels!- with stunning effect. Maaja Bratka had been contained admirably by Mollie Campbell but 2 scores from close range and a 3 from her, a brace inside from Harriet O-S and a 3 from Zainya Reyes constituted a 14-2 run to establish a 56-61 lead for the students. The re-introduction of the 3 banchees, sorry, benchees could no longer be put on hold and Jade Lucas's third 3 made it a 1 basket game with less time than it takes to soft boil an egg to play. In keeping with the topsy-turvy nature of the contest, Loughborough extended it to a 6 point game at 61-67 with time running out.
Surely, there was no way back. In true pantomime tradition, 'oh yes there was!' Somehow, the hosts dug deep to haul it back to 67-67 via a baby hook from Mollie Campbell, a drive from the determined Ashley Tensel and a short corner-swisher from Emma Macready. Inevitably, Loughborough responded by way of a Baird free throw and a Bratka banked shot. It was now 67-70 and all over bar the shouting. Yet again, Mystics refused to give up in their quest for the treble. Nicki Blakeway out-ran everyone to bring it to 69-70. With 6 seconds remaining, Mystics fouled subtly on the inbounds. Maaja went to the line, missed the first and sunk the second. 69-71 and only 4 seconds to go. From the inbounds, Mystics kept their heads and their nerve, to execute their well-rehearsed play out of a made free throw for Nicki Blakeway to score right on the buzzer to send all 3 spectators into wild delight - which is cheaper than the Angel variety!
71-71 meant over-time. These 5 minutes contained as many twists and turns as the Snake Pass. It was not for the faint-hearted. In keeping with the 4th quarter, it was Loughborough who made the early running and Manchester who simply refused to capitulate.The former owned the first 3 scores and at 71-76 with the hugely influential Mollie Campbell fouled out, Mystics finally appeared to be as dead and buried as 1 of Henry VIII's beheaded wives. You guessed it, managing more comebacks than Engelbert Humperdink, a Leah McDerment free throw and Jade Lucas's fourth 3 (from just 6 attempts) provided one more glimmer of hope at 75-76 with 36 seconds on the clock.
The bonus of a trip to the free throw line then imitated a poor diet - it proved fruitless with 8 seconds left. An immediate soft foul on the rebounder by Jade Lucas meant that she, too, had been fouled out but it only yielded 1 out of 2 for Maaja, indicating that even someone as highly experienced as her was feeling the pressure. 75-77. Incredibly, another visit to the charity stripe - I nearly wrote charity shop!- presented Mystics with a golden opportunity with 5 seconds to go. Only the second free throw was successful and at 76-77 Loughborough moved the ball swiftly and skilfully enough to avoid one last foul and win their way through to the final on 14 April.
This should not detract from the fact that Mystics came out on top in every statistical category bar one, even rebounding! Their shooting percentage did, however, drop from 53% in the 1st half to 29% in the second, primarily due to poor shot selection, rushed shots and a sudden unwillingness to go inside. Even so, their refusal to give up was nothing short of amazing and no-one can take away the fact that this has beenan incredibly successful season for them.
Ironically, this magnificent game ended up as the Trophy Final in reverse. Loughborough could be said to have lost that one at the free-throw line and Mystics' inability to convert foul shots here was crucial. Forgetting that they usually make 6 or 7 out of 10, they chose today of all days to miss 6 of 8 in overtime alone, despite extra practice! What goes around, comes around! Congratulations to Loughborough and thanks to both teams for offering up some fantastic entertainment and high quality basketball.
20 March 2012
U18 Manchester Mystics 62 - 49 Doncaster
Victory over a very tough Doncaster Panthers U18s last Sunday secured back to back Northern Conference league titles for Mystics and should have been greeted with a congratulatory sense of triumph and appreciation for what has been a thoroughly successful and impressive season so far. (21 wins in 23 games with the only 2 reversals being a 3 point loss to Scotland's best Senior Women's side, Polonia Phoenix and a double overtime defeat to Haringey who are an Academy rather than a club and can thrash everyone else in the country with their eyes closed!) The fact that the atmosphere at the final whistle was more one of disappointment than elation can only be due to the huge level of expectancy that surrounds this team from all quarters. Because we are all used to Mystics scoring 80+ points and winning games by 60 or 70 + without breaking sweat, it is engrained in people's minds that this will be the case every time. Sport just isn't like that. Sometimes other teams have their say, as our opponents did on this occasion.
Doncaster U18s deserve recognition for making it difficult for us. They made us fight much harder than we are used to so that we were unable to play with our usual freedom and dominance. They are a well-organised outfit whose results against the other sides in the league compare favourably with ours. Their 2 most prominent players, Ashley Sumner and Holly Hodson, have benefited enormously from playing for Sheffield Hatters in Division 1 and this has undoubted helped the team to improve considerably as a unit as the season has progressed. That said, we still beat them!
When a team sets itself very high standards, as we do, one should accept that these cannot always automatically be met across the board every time by every player. Even Michael Jordan had off days! All things must be put into perspective. We did have a dreadful opening 2 minutes which saw us fall 0-6 behind and look like scared rabbits frozen in the headlights. This did result in me deciding, for the very first time with this group, to resort to the hair drier treatment during a time-out in an attempt to wake them from their slumbers! We did, subsequently, then have to scrap rather than flow to claw our way back for the rest of the first half. Doncaster did go on a 2-9 run either side of the third quarter. I assume that these occurrences convinced the majority of spectators and Mystics players that this was a worse performance than it really was.
The following observations may help to persuade you otherwise. When we previously beat Doncaster and Nottingham - both of whom are ranked in the top 5 or 6 in the whole country - with displays that were generally considered to be highly impressive, we scored 62 and 65 respectively. Today was apparently less than decent yet we still managed to score 62! From a decidedly shakey start which was largely responsible for us losing the first quarter, the girls called upon their amazing powers of mental strength to win all 3 of the other periods despite not being allowed to be totally dominant. When it really mattered, everyone pulled together to go on a 13-0 run in the third and a 9-0 spurt in the fourth and actually won the last 16 minutes of the contest by 13 points which is the equivalent of a 33 point victory if repeated over a full game. There was much to be admired in the way that the team turned things round.
During our team talk at half-time, it would have been easy for people to fall out with one another and to apportion blame. Instead, each player, in turn, was invited to make a comment as to how we could improve. What was said only served to re-emphasise to me how lucky this club is to have such a committed, mature group of young ladies in its midst. Each observation was pertinent, sensible and delivered calmly. Consequently, everybody was left in no doubt as to what was required after the break. It permitted us to reduce our turn overs in the second half by a massive 60%. We pulled nearly 50% more rebounds and scored almost 60% more points than in the first half.
Notwithstanding our grand 2 minute opening, no-one should have any complaints about our team defence which was solid throughout, so much so that Doncaster could only really find solace from 3 point range or from the free throw line. (Of Holly's 10 points, 8 were free throws and only 6 of Ashley's 21 weren't 3s or free throws.) They found it incredibly difficult to penetrate our interior defence and got virtually no second chance points.
Finally but crucially, and this is by no means meant to sound like an excuse as I always preach to the players that champions (and that is what I perceive them to be) ignore all negatives, it should be made known that today's team would have been equally at home at a Long John Silver convention! No less than 9 of the 11 are carrying injuries of varying degrees to ankles, feet or knees which cannot fail to have a detrimental effect on their performance as individuals. Because they all are true champions, each of them tries to hide the extent of their niggle and play through it. Admirable (which is a couple of ranks above captain!) though this is, it does make everything that bit more difficult for anyone to be at their very best. Some obviously suffered more than others but it did not prevent anyone from contributing to a deserving victory over worthy opponents.
In conclusion, my overall view, for what it's worth (about ninepence!) is that my pre-game team talk, designed to relax the team and build up their confidence, was like many of Robbie Savage's tackles - over the top! Our starting 5 came out too relaxed, i.e. unconscious! and were caught off guard by Doncaster's tenacity and ability. That was my fault, not theirs. We missed more shots and threw more errant passes than usual but no-one gives the ball away on purpose (except for bribes in Italian football!) and it takes great reserves of mental toughness to put such errors to one side and come out on top.
The team deserves far more credit than it either gives itself or is given by others to turn an inferior first half display into a match-winning second half one. Congratulations, girls, on winning the league and on being just one game away, at home to either Eastside Eagles or Southend Swifts, from another appearance at the Final Fours. (These have to be earned and should not be taken for granted.)
16 March 2012
U18 Manchester Mystics 84 - 27 Sefton
With Sefton U18s having narrowly missed out on a play-off place, Mystics' visit to the Costa Del Bootle last Sunday constituted the home side's final game of the season. It meant that their spectators, mostly parents plus 1 or 2 drunks who had staggered in for a sit down, were in festive mood. This created a brilliant atmosphere in what can be a rather unwelcoming sports hall due to the sub-Artic temperature. (There's no need to ask for ice when anyone hurts their ankle here!) As a bonus, unlike on our previous visit a fortnight earlier with the Senior Women, everyone arrived in good time with no-one popping off to the Outer Hebrides en route. This did not, however, prevent us from being like a dodgy micro-wave - slow to warm up - in the initial stages.
A 2 from M. Spencer ( Mark?) and a 3 from J. Ross (Jonathan?) put us 4-5 behind and after 7 minutes the score was only 6-5 yet experience has taught me not only that no female ever has enough pairs of shoes, that Natalie's watch is always an hour slow but that this Mystics team has too much ability for it not to function effectively before long. The first two are irrefutable, the third needed verification and found it with a 12 point blitz in 3 minutes, mainly in the paint from Mollie Campbell and Cath Stansfield to push it to 18-6 by the end of the first quarter.
Sefton did respond well in the second, scoring a further 12 points but Mystics were now finding all kinds of ways to add to their tally. Leah McDerment and Ashley Tensel again showed what great passers of a basketball they have become to set up numerous fast break opportunities for our willing runners, Lucy Rogan, Natalie Feurtado and Danni Johnson. Hannah Alty and Katie Rowlands continued the excellent work in the paint (armed with brushes and rollers!) while Leah did some damage on the perimeter. (She didn't break any windows but she did nail most of her shots!) All this meant that by half-time we were 38-18 to the good and determined not to suffer the 3rd period blues that seem to haunt the Senior Women all too often. (Twice!)
After the interval - no choc ices were on sale - the girls upped their team defensive intensity and 4 baskets from Lucy, 3 from Katie and 3 threes from Leah ensured that this was not an option. We won the quarter 27-4 with a near faultless display and followed this up with a 19-5 4th stanza to finish 84-27 in what turned out to be a useful run out prior to our 'winner takes all' game next Sunday at home to Doncaster. This could be considered to be a War of the Roses clash if only we had a Rose in our team as they have in theirs. (We haven't even got a Lily, Daisey, Iris or even a Tulip.)
I'm tempted to put this next paragraph in capitals to indicate that it is tantamount to an outburst! In my opinion, it is nothing short of outrageous that a team (i.e. us) who has won every league game they have played, with 1 remaining, could still finish 3rd! We have EB's nonsensical decision (and I'm not saying anything here that I haven't already said to them) to award a game we won by about 110 clear points to opponents who did not wish to claim it as a 0-20 forfeit purely because all the necessary information was presented hand-written rather than in print due to a faulty printer! (I prefer to drink mild but I'm still bitter!)
Despite this, if we beat Doncaster again, we will be Northern Conference champions and will play the 4th ranked team in the south, Eastside Eagles at home in the play-offs, probably on 22 April. If we lose and Doncaster subsequently beat Nottingham in their final league fixture, we will finish 2nd and will host the 3rd best southern team, Southend Swifts but if we lose and Nottingham beat Doncaster, we will come 3rd and have to go on a 500 mile trek to either Haringey or Sevenoaks (yet again!) Of those possibilities, one is a sweet as the icing on Megan's cakes, one is better than a kick up the backside and the latter is only marginally more preferable to cutting your toe nails with a faulty electric hedge trimmer in the dark!
13 March 2012
Manchester Mystics 110 - 45 Sunderland
Martin O'Neil has done a good job turning round Sunderland's soccer season; Harry Wood has done similarly well with their basketball team. After a disappointing beginning, Sunderland City Predators came to us having convincingly won their 2 previous games with Laura Howe and Sinead McHugh scoring for fun.(Not that anyone ever scores for boredom!) That meant that a repeat of the 97 point winning margin they gifted us just before Christmas (!) was as unlikely as Red Rum winning the 2012 Grand National! This was especially so because we were without Jamie Curtis (who had an appointment trying on wigs) and Cath Stansfield (who had an appointment packing other people's bags.)
This was our final Northern Conference fixture of the 2011-12 campaign. (I am aware that this makes it sound more like a war than a basketball season but we have had 1 or 2 battles along the way!) The players were as keen as mustard - which is a compliment and a condiment - to maintain their proud 100% league record, matched only by Worcester Wolves Men out of a total of over 120 Senior Men's and Women's teams competing at national level across the country this year (excluding the Isle of Wight!)
The early indications were that Sinead would be a major threat as she hit her side's first 7 points. (The fact that she could only add 6 more thereafter is due principally to the excellent defensive work of Leah McDerment. Leah quickly got her number (#11) and that was that!) We trailed 4-5 but as soon as I told Nicki Blakeway and Jade Lucas the joke about how many eggs does a Frenchman have for breakfast, it all changed. I'll explain... A Frenchman only has 1 egg (un oeuf) for breakfast because un oeufs un oeuf/enough! Sorry!
Nicki and Jade decided that enough was enough and took over to score our first 15 points between them to bring it to 15-5 after 5 minutes. Lucy Rogan, who was outstanding throughout, and Leah then found their range to sink 4 out of 4 from the perimeter. Our 2 MC's, Mollie Campbell and Megan Collins also converted to contribute to a 30-12 first quarter, the highlight of which had nothing to do with hair colour but much to do with the team's ability to move the ball at lightning pace with great precision and skill. It was so good that it had me purring like a fat bloke locked in a cake factory!
The second period mirrored the first except that Laura Howe had taken over as her team's main scorer. Sunderland doubled their tally to 24 by half-time but struggled to find an answer to the attacking prowess of all 9 Mystics, as Ashley Tensel, Natalie Feurtado and Emma Macready completed the full list of scorers at 62-24. Nicki and Emma (who began like a Skoda with no petrol but gradually cranked up to the status of a Rolls Royce!) had done most of the damage points-wise in the first half but then graciously gave way to the younger end who had obviously made up their minds not to respect their elders who now needed their afternoon nap! Lucy, Leah and Ashley dominated much of the next 20 minutes scoring to register 30 second half points between them.
Even though it ended 110-45, it was by no means a blow out and infinitely better than staying at home making futile attempts to do some DIY.(Destroy It Yourself, in my case!) Sunderland competed well from the first whistle to the last and there were some commendable performances from within their ranks. They can consider themselves unfortunate to have come across a Mystics side at the top of their game. All 9 of our players finished with very positive efficiency ratings, including a club high +44 by Nicki which included 26 points,11 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals. (Not bad for an old-timer!)
Mystics unblemished league record means that we go into the play-of Quarter Final on 24 March as the number 1 seeds. This, of course, guarantees nothing other than a home draw against the number 8 seeds who will probably be London Westside. They have had a fine season themselves, running both NASSA and Loughborough close and will be no pushovers. Should we win that one, our likely semi-final opponents would be Loughborough whom we have already played twice, with 1 win apiece. We are in a good place but can take nothing for granted in our pursuit of the treble.
Thanks to all for their support and assistance.
JIm 13/3/12
8 March 2012
Manchester Mystics 92 - 38 Doncaster
Having already been subjected to 1 ridiculous sign on our travels this season when Knowsley modestly claimed to be 'the future,' we witnessed a second last Sunday. As soon as you enter the outskirts of Doncaster you are greeted with 'Doncaster, the journey starts here.' This made me wonder what we had been doing in the minibus for the previous hour and three quarters! Even this boast pales into insignificance, however, when compared to the sign in Scarborough. This reads, 'Scarborough, the first resort.' I've been there and am, consequently, amazed that no-one has seen fit to cross out the 'first' and replace it with a 'last!'
The mention of signs leads me seamlessly on to our game with Doncaster Danum Eagles. Going off the first encounter, all the signs indicated that this could be a long way to go for something of a mismatch. Fortunately, the efforts of the Doncaster players made it far from a waste of time. Even though the final score makes it appear to have been very one-sided, it was a game in which everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. By their own admission, the home side did not expect to win but did field a stronger team than last time. This made them far more competitive as they got up and down court quickly, set lots of hard screens and tried their utmost not to give up any unopposed lay ups. Their captain, Nicki Snowden led by example and I was impressed by the battling qualities of all of their team, most especially from Helen Hinchliffe in the paint. (Wouldn't it be a coincidence if Nicki Snowden had a friend called Ben Nevis?!)
As for Mystics, 1 of our number also provided a misleading sign. By turning up in t-shirt, shorts and flip-flops, Cath Stansfield had us all believing that summer had arrived early. It subsequently snowed en route and the sports hall could easily have doubled as a fridge! (It wasn't full of stale yoghurt and mouldy cheese but you could see your breathe!) Perhaps the temperature was at the root of the tempo of the game. Both sides flew up and down as if they were running for last orders, either because they were full of energy or to stop their legs turning blue!
With the league title now in the bag, Mystics were happy to show why they are unbeaten by any other division 2 team in Britain so far. They all expressed themselves and played with their characteristic freedom throughout the first period to amass 26 points with all but 1 team member already on the scoresheet. The only 1 not to register thus far was Cath. This was due to her suffering from a mild case of hyperthermia (or should that be cold case?) brought on by her misguided fashion faux pas. She did, eventually, add her name to the list but only after she had put on a pair of thermal socks!
To their credit, Doncaster kept their heads up and continued to strive to make things as difficult for us as they could in the second quarter.(They hid the ball!) 3s from their captain and the excellent K Matthews helped raise their spirits despite them trailing 47-19 by half-time. We managed to avoid a third successive 3rd period horror show and won it by 12 with the scoring still like butter on a tasty sandwich - evenly spread. Mystics then crowned the performance with some eye-catching basketball which yielded a further 26 points to give us a 92-38 victory over gallant opponents.
With Sunderland to play at home as our only remaining league fixture, a win here will leave us as the only Senior team in the country with a 100% league record as we enter the play-offs. Well done ladies. Everyone connected to the club should be as proud of you as I am!
Thanks to Paul for driving and to Aline and Angie for their support.
Jim. 8/3/12
7 March 2012
Manchester Mystics 62 - 49 Sefton Starlights
Saturday's clash with Sefton Starlights eventually left us over the moon! However, it was not a game for the faint hearted as it contained as many ups and downs as an over-used lift. The fixture took on epic proportions when it became apparent that a win of any kind for Mystics would secure the club's first ever Senior Women's league title (to go with last season's National play-off title and this year's National Trophy triumph and, thus, complete the set.) Alternatively, and unthinkably, victory for Sefton by 20+ points would hand the title to them. There was, therefore, much Adu about something this time and it was certain to be a close encounter of the third kind. (We had already had 2 tight games with one another!)
Sefton arrived like Samson before he had his hair cut - at full strength - whereas we were minus the charesmatic Megan Collins whose swollen ankle had grown to the size of an elephant's foot with elephantitis and had the colour of Neapolitan ice cream. Her energy on and off court would be sorely missed! With no other game on at the centre, the atmosphere prior to tip-off time was as electric as a gas cooker! Fortunately, the last minute arrival of a few VIP parents doubled the attendance and noise level and off we went. Both teams settled immediately and, with Mollie Campbell occupying the attentions of the giant Ruth Cass, Nicki Blakeway was able to take advantage of a mismatch inside to score 8 of our first 12 points. This helped us move on from 6-6 to 14-9 by the end of the first quarter. The margin would have been substantially wider had we not been as wasteful as someone who sucks the filling out of a Cadbury's cream egg and then throws the chocolate shell away. We squandered a host of fast break opportunities created by tremendous passing ability and range of our trio of point guards, Jamie Curtis, Jade Lucas and Leah McDerment. (The words cow and banjo spring readily to mind!) We actually missed 17 of the 24 shots we took but still found ourselves ahead due to our exemplary team defence.
Each team member managed to maintain her defensive focus and work rate during the second period but now combined this with an offensive end-product. Jade, Jamie and Ashley Tensel on the outside, plus Emma Macready, Natalie Feurtado and Lucy Rogan on the break all benefitted from the extra attention Nicki's threat in the paint had brought. We played some delightful basketball to pull away to 36-15 by half-time with Cath Stansfield noticeably pulling some defensive rebounds for us. A 21 point lead was as welcome as a new air-con system would be to our centre but as dangerous as 21 red rags to a bull, given that Sefton had completely overwhelmed us in the third quarter during the 2 previous matches. Unlike at Wembley in 1966, we had no reason to think that it was all over!
I had pre-empted this scenario and we had discussed our strategy should it arise. Complacency was not an option. 2 buckets in very quick successsion from Jade immediately after the re-start should have energised us as our unbelievable run had now grown to 34-9. At 40-15, we were serving for that set in a different sport. The following 10 minutes then proved to be more of a horror story than 'Godzilla and Dracula meet the Thing and Frankenstein on Elm Street near the site of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre at Halloween!' I would have readily opted to visit a blind dentist with the shakes for a canal root filling without anaesthetic rather than witness what I next endured. We suddenly turned from a smooth running unit into a bunch of individuals who were as efficient as cling film which won't cling. This resulted in the score moving from a highly comfortable 40-15 to a very itchy 42-37. We had crumbled like a digestive biscuit that had been pummelled with a sledge hammer!
Just as they had on the 2 previous occasions, Sefton came out like Wyatt Earp in 'Gun Fight at OK Coral,' with all guns blazing. Leanne Haseldine, who hadn't yet bothered to shoot, and Michelle Adu proceded to sink 3 baskets apiece. To say that this caused mild panic in our ranks would be as much of an understatement as saying that Mario Balotelli is only a little bit eccentric! Instead of continuing in similar fashion to that which had given us such a commanding lead, our normally sound decision making suddenly turned into marijuana. (It went to pot!) We jacked up shots far too early in each offense and compounded the problem further by not bothering to rebound the errant shots. Only 1 of our next 19 attempts went through the hoop. We wouldn't have won any goldfish at a fairground and for the first time this season, I noticed more than 1 head go down in either exasperation or disbelief.
It takes courage, mental fortitude and genuine team spirit, as well as considerable talent, to re-establish dominance against a very good team whose tails are up. Fortunately, these Mystics possess al these qualities in abundance. Our girls /ladies upped their defence to how it had been prior to the drop in intensity to put far more pressure on Sefton's hotshots. This dramatically reduced their 52% third quarter conversion rate to a fourth quarter 25%. Our shooting percentage, by comparison, shot(!) up from 14% in the bad dream to a hugely impressive 56%. This remarkable transition was achieved because everyone regained their composure to move themselves and the ball more quickly and effectively to establish better shots. 7 different scores hit 20 points between them and it was now the opposition who were reduced to throwing up prayers as we pulled away to win 62-49 and secure the league title.
Because Mystics have performed so successfully so far this season, expectations are now high. This means that any time that our level of play falls below the norm, it causes disappointment or criticism. I accept that everyone is entitled to their opinion and even some of the players thought that this was an unconvincing display. I disagree. For 75% of the time (30 of the 40 minutes), we were very much in the ascendancy in all aspects of the game against very competent opponents. Both before and after our 10 minutes of severe under-achievement, there was much to be admired. As a money-lender would say to a client, credit where credit is due. If we can now beat Doncaster tomorrow, only Sunderland stand in our way of an unbeaten league record.
Thanks to all for their help and support.
Jim 6/3/12
1 March 2012
Manchester Mystics 67 - 43 Bury Blue Devils
Sometimes we can be unlike OJ Simpson and be found guilty..... in this instance, of either being too hasty or of having unrealistic expectations. For example, we might buy a pair of trousers which are labelled as 1 size too small for us without trying them on in the belief that we will, somehow, be able to squeeze into them. We then become disappointed when we try to fasten them and it makes our eyes pop out of their sockets! We could even live under the acute misapprehension that, just because they looked good, Bananarama could actually sing! Similarly, after last Tuesday evening's Women's game against Bury, I went away like a tyre with a slow puncture - a bit flat. Despite our comfortable win, I wasn't convinced that we had played well.
Having now thought about it in depth (rather than go shopping!), I was too hasty. Earlier in the season, we beat the same opponents 67-41 in the Cup and I was very pleased with both the result and the general display. Why, then, when the outcome was virtually identical at 67-43, should I not be equally content? (Answers on a postcard....) After all, Bury are a genuinely good side who will probably finish third or fourth in the league. A 24 point victory over such decent opposition, even with a cold, should not be sniffed at, especially if one looks closely at the stats. We shot a highly commendable 50% from 2 point range and held Bury to 33%. Our 3 point conversion rate came out at an impressive 40% (cf their 9%) whilst we were superior at the free throw line to the tune of 56% to their 35%. We dominated the boards, pulling 61% of all rebounds, with Mollie Campbell at the forefront, had an incredible 8 times as many assists (24-3 thanks mainly to Jamie Curtis, as ever, and Emma Macready!), made more than twice as many steals - well done Ashley Tensel and Lucy Rogan - and 4 times as many blocks at 4-1, with 3 from Mollie, as well as having less turn overs.(36-42) to win all 4 quarters.
Hold on! (as a passer-by once advised me when I was in danger of slipping down a cliff I was trying to scramble up!) That must have been it - 36 bloomin' turn overs! I won't name the main culprits but it wasn't Megan Collins or Leah McDerment who had just 1 each. All of the good things we had done, including a period of play in the latter part of the first quarter which was on a different level, had been overshadowed (as Cliff Richard used to be!) by our generosity in giving the ball back to the other team. Upon reflection, that was a bit harsh. I am now of the opinion that there really was plenty to admire, both from a team and an individual perspective, during the first 10 minutes alone, I can vividly picture 2 occasions when Natalie Feurtado put on the burners but didn't even have to break stride to catch a pair of absolutely pin-point passes from Jamie. I can also recall with great fondness, a 2 player move involving the game's leading scorer, Nicki Blakeway and Leah which ended with Leah relocating (further up the key, not to a different country!) to swish a 3. This interaction was so well executed that it had my trusty (or is it rusty?) assistant, Donald and I purring with approval and delight.
These cameos were an integral part of a high class run which took us from 0-3 to 21-5 in the space of 5 minutes with Jade Lucas here, there and everywhere. It is easy to forget such moments of excellence when they occur so regularly.Even in the low key second quarter, there were things to admire. Bury really upped their interior defensive effort and fought incredibly hard, restricting us to just 8 more points as we let the tempo drop. The sole reason that this did not have an adverse effect on the final result was because our team defence was as good as ever so that they could only add 4. A 29-9 half-time scoreline constituted a thoroughly acceptable reward for the performance thus far and truly reflected our defensive brilliance.
An all-to-familiar lack-lustre beginning to the third period - we seem to be either like an over-spiced Vindaloo (red hot) or a packet of frozen peas (ice cold) straight after the interval - saw us leak more points in the next 5 minutes than we had in the previous 20! Whether it was paralysis, laziness, colour blindness or no helpside defence, it was suddenly game on at 33-20. We needed to plug the leak and Jamie and Emma answered our call for a plumber! They stepped up to spark (electricians as well!) a 14-3 run with Lucy adding steal to our defence, egged on, even though it was Mollie's birthday and not hers, by enthusiastic encouragement from the bench in the form of the now incapacitated Megan and partner in crime - it was loud enough to be considered noise pollution - Cath Stansfield. Ashley then made sure that we ended the stanza on a high note by sinking a 3 and a 2 to put us 24 up. (That's the equivalent of 3 and a bit bottles of a well-known brand of lemonade!)
If we continued at the same rate, it would constitute a most convincing 32 point margin of victory. Too many substitutions, some foul trouble, a touch of complacency and/or fatigue plus several more careless turn-overs ensured that we did no more than maintain the Rolling Stones, sorry, wrong group, the Status Quo to finish 67-43 with Mollie, Emma, Nicki and Jamie emerging with the most striking efficiency ratings. Stats can, of course, sometimes be misleading but today's do, at least, show that we were superior across the board. What they don't show, however, is how well Bury scrapped for everything and made it as hard for us as they could.
29 February 2012
U18 Manchester Mystics 137 - 37 Gateshead Storm
The only thing in the world, other than important family business - I say this in the unlikely event that any of them read this report - I don't mind missing Arsenal totally slaughtering Tottering Hotspur for, is to coach a Mystics game. This even includes top versus bottom matches, as Sunday's U18 fixture against Gateshead Storm was. It becomes more the case than ever as I get old enough to weigh up whether buying green bananas could be a waste of money!
Having the luxury of 10 quality players on call, my initial game plan (g.p!), in theory, was 5 on for 5 minutes, 5 off and the other 5 on for the other 5 (minutes and players!) The danger was that we all know that theory and practice sometimes don't go hand in hand . For instance, in theory, twitching 'honest' Harry Redknapp's slimy, cheating outfit should have put one over on the injury hit, world's most unlucky team, the Gooners last Saturday but in practice, my boys gave them a good spanking! Lol (which, for ages, I thought stood for 'lots of love!') Similarly, there was no way, theoretically, that Megan Collins, having badly turned her ankle just 5 days previously, should have been able to play in this game. Not only did she, but she ran around the court as fast as a greyhound being frequently jabbed with a cattle prod!
Today, though, theory and practice were in sink so I employed the 5 on and off advanced tactic throughout. It bore fruit to the tune of 35 points in the 1st quarter, 33 in the second, 37 in the 3rd and 32 in the 4th. Our massive total of 137 was also shared equitably across the board with 8 of the 10 Mystics scoring 9+ points apiece so that 10 of our 11 regulars now have over 100 points each for the season so far, illustrating our considerable strength in depth and unselfishness. (Unlike lobsters, who are shellfish!)
Although they ultimately lost the game by exactly 100, the opposition can take heart from the performances of Chloe Hails (a good surname for a team called Gateshead Storm. Shame they didn't also have players named Flood, Snow or Gale!), Rachel Farrey and, in particular, the excellent Sweeney, sorry, Ashley Todd.
It was interesting to note the roles each Mystic adopted in this game. Ashley Tensel and Leah McDerment were perfectly content to set up their team-mates by spraying long distance passes with unerring precision and accuracy. Megan Collins, Cath Stansfield, Danni Johnson and Cat Meakin ignored the fact that the court was more conducive to ice skating than basketball to also buy into the sharing philosophy whilst ensuring that they didn't miss out on the opportunity to up their points average. Mollie Campbell and Natalie Feurtado found themselves more able to finish than assist due to their strength and speed and Hannah Alty decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth by missing only 1 of the 10 shots she took! That leaves our captain, Lucy Rogan. Lucy did a bit of everything, as she invariably does so that , like all of her team-mates, she finished with a positive efficiency rating. In this regard, it would be remiss of me not to mention Nat's and Cath S's overall contributions. In previous reports, I exalted the efforts of Mollie and Leah for achieving the ridiculously high rating of +36. Today, Nat surpassed that with 37, only to be upstaged by Cath's +40 which included a staggering 17 rebounds! I put this down purely to her pre-match meal of a Cadbury's cream egg!
Victories away to Sefton and home to Doncaster are all that stand in our way from being crowned league winners and a home tie in the play-off Quarter Final, probably versus Eastside Eagles who currently stand fourth in the south's pecking order!
Thanks to all for your support and help.
28 February 2012
U18 Manchester Mystics 65 - 39 Nottingham Wildcats
21 February 2012
Manchester Mystics 68 - 51 Sefton
14 February 2012
U18 Manchester Mystics 124 - 37 Bury Blue Devils
Last Sunday saw Bury Blue Devils visit Mystics U18s and it turned out to be a worthwhile run out for us in spite of the huge margin of victory. Going against my recent policy of putting on a random starting 5, I opted for the tried and tested combo of Lucy Rogan, Megan Collins, Leah McDerment, Cath Stansfield and, in the absence of Mollie Campbell, Katie Rowlands. They repaid my faith in them with a brilliant display, scoring 27 points in just 6 minutes with Leah as dominant as Tarzan in an arm wrestling contest against Samson after Samson had had a haircut! Katie, too, looked sharp (I once taught a boy called Luke Sharp who could not understand why I kept telling him to 'get a move on!'). Lucy, as usual, took care of the little essentials that are easily overlooked, while Megan tortured Bury's point guard with her excellent on the ball defence and Cath looked threatening every time we attacked.
Our superiority did not wane when these 5 were replaced en bloc (French for get out of the way!) by Ashley Tensel, Danni Johnson, Natalie Feurtado, Cat Meakin and Hannah Alty who looked as at home together as a plate of fillet steak with thin cut chips, onions and mushrooms! They increased the lead by the end of the first quarter to 36 at 38-2. The same group began the second period and, aided by a 3 and a 2 from Ashley, hit 11 points in 4 minutes only to concede 8 in the blink of an eye through insufficient pressure on the ball. 49-12 then became 64-13 as the 5 on the bench re-appeared in determined mood. Bury had moved the basketball nicely and had shown some nice individual touches but, with all 10 Mystics in this kind of form, they had been unable to slow down our offensive juggernaut.
Hannah opened the scoring after the break but it was Bury who began more brightly, scoring 6 unanswered points before Ashley and Nat settled us down to push it to 70-19. Megan, Leah, Katie, Cath S and Lucy then ran riot for the next 5 minutes to pour in 17 more points with some wonderful free-flowing play. The fourth quarter performance was equally impressive as all 10 Mystics contributed to our 37 points in just 10 minutes, making it 124-37. Every Mystic played well enough to finish the game with an efficiency rating of at least + 5. (Any + score is creditable as it means that a player did more things right than wrong.) 4 of our girls - Cath S, Katie, Ashley and Megan did so many good things that their plus ratings were in the 20s but even their excellent displays could not compare to Leah's who achieved the ridiculously high rating of +36! (Mollie emulated this earlier in the season but, that apart, I've never witnessed one so high - the rating, not Leah!) 30 points and 11 rebounds were a testimony to a special individual display contained in an exceptional team performance from a very special team. Megan's 8 assists, Ashley's 8 steals and Katie's 14 rebounds also warrant highlighting, as does Bury's never-say-die attitude.
Thanks to all for your support. Next up is a potential league decider at Nottingham at 6.00pm on Saturday 25 February.
Jim 13/2/12
13 February 2012
U18 Manchester Mystics 94 - 23 Sporting Club Albion
Mystics U18s first ever visit to the tourist attraction that is West Bromwich last Saturday to play Sporting Club Albion had its moments. For a time, it looked as though 'alternative arrangements' might have to be made because the remote control used to lower the baskets could only bring the nets down at one end. I had visions of us shooting into the netball stand which was lurking ominously in the shadows! Someone must have then contacted Paul Daniels and the basket magically descended just prior to tip-off time, cutting short Katie Rowlands' back massage clinic for stiff/stressed team-mates! Sadly, any magical influences did not find their way to our 'experimental' starting 5. Five minutes in and we trailed 5-7. Albion deserve special credit for being ahead because they had done despite the fact that the basket they were shooting in had a mind of its own and mysteriously started to make its way towards the sports hall roof during one possession!
I then uttered the magical words (not abracadabra but 'off you come you 5') and we went on an inspired 18-0 burst over the next 5 minutes as Cath Stansfield, Natalie Feurtado, Lucy Rogan and Cat Meakin made the most of Leah McDerment's vision and phenomenal passing range. This surge took the wind out of Albion's sails and the second quarter went our way to the tune of 29-4 with Mollie Campbell and Hannah Alty joining in the fun and Natalie and the now irrepressible Megan Collins repeatedly scoring on the break via exquisite feeds from Lucy and Ashley Tensel, who should represent GB in the javelin at the 2012 Olympics!
The third period mirrored the second; we took it 26-5 with a clinical display of up-tempo basketball, highlighted by a 3 pointer from Cath S to give her a 100% record from beyond the arc! By the end of the game which was very well refereed and keenly contested, despite the one-sided scoreline, we had pulled away further to finish 94-23 with all 11 Mystics, including the yet to be mentioned but ever-reliable Danni Johnson, receiving equitable court time. Pleasingly, the girls had again shown their maturity by maintaining their defensive intensity even though they were comfortably ahead for the vast majority of the game.
Thanks to Paul for driving us again, to Marion for team managing with her usual efficiency and to Julie for her support
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9 February 2012
U18 Manchester Mystics 83 - 31 Cheshire Jets
Our sixth U18 game of the season against a team with Cheshire in their name, this time the Jets (who must either be high fliers or just simply older than Cheshire Juniors!), went much the same way as the other 5 had last Saturday. Despite warnings of the possible end of the world by the BBC weather forecasters in the dastardly form of a few snow flurries, we risked going to Warrington without thermal vests, ice picks, extra blankets, Sherpas or chains on our car tyres.
The game started - and ended - with 1 of the referees constantly expressing his concern that if any player stood still in the key for more than a nano second they might freeze to death. Consequently, he kindly kept telling every offensive player to get out of there as soon as they went in! Thankfully, nobody froze but his anxiety made it virtually impossible for any Mystic to post up inside so we had to find other ways to score.This tended to be via the fast break, fuelled by our fleet of greyhounds with Lucy Rogan in trap 1, Megan Collins in 2, Natalie Feurtado in 3 and Cat Meakin in 4. They were fed by a posse of passers who are all skilled enough to win a crate of coconuts at a fairground in the form of Leah McDerment, Megan Collins (sufficiently gifted to be able to pass to herself!), Ashley Tensel and Danni Johnson.
Our 'bigger end,' if you'll pardon the expression, therefore, had to either sprint full pelt across the key and hope that the ref did not spot them or (to quote Shakespeare, 'get their backsides in gear' up the court.) Mollie Campbell, Cath Stansfield and Katie Rowlands took the Baird's advice and opted for the latter. Their 'run and gun, approach (which has nothing to do with armed robbery), proved to be very effective. (Incidentally, I used to play cricket with a bloke called Robin Banks. He couldn't be trusted but I preferred him to his girlfriend, Claire Voyant, who was forever boasting that see could see into the future!)
We began in the assumption that 3 seconds did actually take 3 seconds, rather than 1 and a bit, only to be mistaken. As a result, we stuttered somewhat into a 14-7 lead before altering our style of play accordingly. Lucy and Cath led the way in the second quarter with 16 of our 24 points to push our lead to 22 by half-time at 38-16. Our up-tempo style yielded a further 27 with Mollie scoring the 4 opening baskets points in the third before being benched to give someone else a chance! The scoring mantle was then taken up by Ash and Cat although Megan did take time off from making sure everyone else scored by converting a lay-up herself!
Going into the fourth at 65-24, and with most of the team's focus now understandably on their appearance in the Women's Trophy Final the day after, our display over the remaining 10 minutes can best be described as adequate. The girls did enough to see us home 83-31 with Lucy, Ash, Mollie and Nat all in double figures. Katie led the way in rebounding, Megan in assists, steals and shooting percentage (2 out of 2!) and defensively the team performed well enough to prevent any Jets player from getting into double figures, with Leah doing her usual highly proficient job, this time on the dangerous Claire Perry - she always carries a hammer in her shorts! - and Natalie covering every inch of the court at speed, frightening the life out of the opposition! Next up it's Sporting Albion and I hope they are!
Thanks to all for your support.
Jim9/2/12
Cup Finals are occasions to be tre
7 February 2012
Div 2 Manchester Mystics 66 - 60 Loughborough
Women's Trophy Final
Cup Finals are occasions to be treasured and enjoyed but this is easier said than done when the latter stages of the journey to Robin Hood's stomping ground to play in the Women's Trophy Final, which had already taken almost twice as long as usual due to adverse conditions, proved to be as difficult as getting a penalty for away sides at Old Trafford! Road gritting in Nottingham seemingly occurs as frequently as the discovery of Penny Black stamps so that once we'd negotiated the 2014 Winter Olympic slalom ski slopes leading up to the exotically named Jesse Boot Centre, (prompting me to wonder if Jesse was related to the Duke of Wellington!) my already nervous nerves were put on twitch alert by the non-arrival of our 2 most senior players, Jamie Curtis and Jade Lucas with only 45 minutes to go to tip-off. Had they got lost, were they sliding up and down the surrounding icey hills or had they decided to stay at home to watch Songs of Praise? Whatever the reason, it did mean that we were in danger of beginning the game against Loughborough with a team whose average age was only slightly above 13 years!
Both duly arrived, albeit with the aid of the local mountain rescue team, and I spent the warm-up getting a stiff neck looking up at our huge opponents doing theirs. The programme listed 1 of them at 6'3 and 3 more at 6'1. If the infamous Bratka twins are only 6'1 then OJ Simpson really is innocent! When our tallest player, the genuinely 6'0 Mollie Campbell, lined up with the full Estonian international, Maaja Bratka, the top of Mollie's head was level with Maaja's chin!
Prior to the start, my faithful team manager, Aline, ever concerned for my sanity, noticed that, in Donald Johnson's unavoidable absence, I would be Billy No Mates on our bench whereas our well-heeled opponents had 1 head coach, 2 assistant coaches,1 strength and conditioning coach (called Tarzan who was presumably there to ensure that they were both fit and had nice hair!) plus 1 team manager on theirs. (All that was missing was a coach for handing out hair bobbles!) Fully aware that I might start talking to myself, Aline phoned a friend and it was poor Rob Fairley who lost the toss and had to sit with me. (Rob will do anything for free food!) Thanks, Rob. I'm grateful for your cheery input and support.
We had already played (and lost to) Loughborough in a pre-season friendly. Their performance then, the EB stats and the fact that their only defeat of the season had come in at the hands of Division 1's Sheffield Hatters 1, made it clear that victory today would be as hard to come by as a tax rebate! Apart from the enormous discrepancy in size (and presumably in strength if their conditioning coach was doing his job), the advantage that this was virtually a home game for them and that, as a University-based side, they are able to recruit from far and wide (and tall!) as well as train every day, we couldn't tell our Maaja from our Maia (identical in looks and almost in name, too) and so didn't know if we were coming or going!
What we did know was that we would have find a way to limit the high scoring of the triple bs - Bratka, Baird and Buxton, all of whom average around 20 points or more per game. Maia would also need watching, not because she was inclined to do anything naughty but because she is a good player. With so much in their favour, it was reasonable to assume that Loughborough would have improved significantly since being thrown together in pre-season. I had convinced myself that we, too, were currently a more efficient unit and that speed and skill were preferable to size and strength. I now had to persuade the players of the same.
Much of Loughborough's success has arisen from explosive starts. It may help to be aware of this, but doing anything about it isn't quite as straightforward. 0-4 soon became 4-10 due mainly to our inability to deal with the pick n'roll. We did then counter this effectively only for things to get worse due to our slowness in getting out to their shooters, and our own lack of offensive self-assurance. It meant that we trailed by as many as 9 during the opening period, and only got it back to 5 at 14-19, thanks to some excellent free-throw shooting from Ashley Tensel, Mollie Campbell and Natalie Feurtado. On the plus side, all 10 Mystics had already been on court and any nerves should, therefore have dissipated.
The two teams looked far more evenly matched in the second quarter as they swapped baskets for the next 5 or 6 minutes before Loughborough went on a mini-run (which, in this case, has nothing to do with a test drive!) to go up 21-29. The re-introduction of Ashley and Natalie then upped our energy levels to bring a spate of turnovers which enabled us to close the gap to 27-31 at the half-way stage. It was proving to be a fascinating contest which could go either way. If it was to go our way, we would need to turn the ball over less and get the ball inside more to increase our shooting percentage and draw fouls.
As if to prove the point, scores in the paint from Nicki Blakeway and Natalie sparked a 7-2 run to give us our very first lead, 34-33 with the 5 Mystics on court busting a gut on defence. There was no way that anyone could maintain such all-out effort for a full quarter and changes were made. We became tentative and fell behind 34-40. I toyed with the notion of wholesale changes but had great faith in both the ability and mental fortitude of those on court so I resisted. I am so glad I did. A 3 from Jade Lucas, a silky smooth post move from Leah McDerment and a swished 3 from Jamie Curtis broke the shackles and boosted confidence beyond belief. It was now 42 apiece with 1 quarter remaining
No less than 5 lead changes in the next six and a half minutes brought it from 50-52 to 53-52 by means of a 3 point play from Jade who was now ready to take on the whole world single-handed! Could we finally capitalise and pull away? In short, no we couldn't. Two baskets from the powerful Gillian Baird and 2 free throws from Maaja left us reeling like a batsman who has just been hit on a fleshy part of his anatomy by a very fast bowler. It didn't quite constitute a knock-out blow, but it did cause a serious wobble. We found ourselves (without the use of a sat-nav!) 53-58 behind with a mere 2 minutes 16 on the clock. Before I could call a time-out, my opposite number did so. It had the effect of taking our opponents out of their flow and helped our players to re-focus.
Another 3 from Jade made it 56-58 only for Lucy Buxton to set us back at 56-60 with 1 minute 28 remaining. The 5'7 Natalie then took her life in her own hands to take a charge from Maaja Bratka to bring about her fifth foul and Loughborough's heavy reliance on this outstanding player henceforth took its toll. Mystics completely dominated the end game to score the final 10 points unanswered with a baby hook from Mollie, a 2 from the corner by Leah, a 2 inside from Nicki, a blistering drive from Jade and 2 free throws from Nicki. Mystics had put together a 32-20 run to lift the trophy thanks to the Herculean efforts of every single Mystic. All 10 made significant contributions both on court and on the bench and the 11th, Hannah Alty, who had just performed brilliantly for Mystics U16s in their Final earlier, and who was aware that her brief was almost certainly one of encouragement from the bench, played her part by doing just that with great gusto. Several members of the team had battled through difficult periods in the game for themselves to come good when it really mattered to show their mental toughness and class, whilst we showed our strength in depth by holding on despite having both Jade and Jamie fouled out in the latter stages.
Emma Macready, Jade and Natalie proved to be our most efficient shooters, Ashley, Nicki, Jade, Nat and Leah all made key free throws to give us a 63% success rate (cf Loughborough's 35%), Cath Stansfield did not get as much court time as I wanted but she , Nicki and Mollie pulled a muscle, sorry, pulled 21 rebounds between them despite looking like Hobbits in comparison. Defensively, the effort, determination and focus displayed most noticeably by Megan Collins during her limited time (sorry Megan), Nat, Jamie and Leah on the opposition's guards ultimately proved decisive. Nicki and Emma were magnificent in their personal duels with bigger forwards, but special mention must go to Mollie for the amazing job she did on Maaja Bratka. Giving away several inches, several pounds and several years experience, she shone as brightly as the brightest star on a clear night. Extremely well done Mystics. You fully deserve your success.
7 February 2012
U18 Manchester Mystics 83 - 51 Cheshire Jets
In keeping with my Libran traits of fairness and balance, I again sought to share court time equitably in our u18 home game against Cheshire Jets. I even extended this liberal approach to beginning each quarter with a different 5, having begun the game with a totally new starting 5! Obviously going soft in my old age, It soon became readily apparent that my generosity had come back to bite me in the backside!
Our younger, less experienced opponents surprised most onlookers, and their coach, by holding on (not in a fouling way!) at 8 all after 5 minutes. This prompted a quick shuffle of the Mystics pack which immediately turned things round. This particular pack was unusual in that it contained 5 aces (as well as 3 jokers!.) Lucy Rogan, Mollie Campbell and Leah McDerment ran in a combined total of 19 points in the next 5 minutes, moving the basketball seamlessly, ably assisted by Cath Stansfield and Megan Collins, to give us a 27-12 lead.
2 quick buckets from the battered and bruised Megan whose right eye had lost an argument with a team-mate's elbow the previous day, followed by 2 from Cath and 1 from the ever-enthusiastic Hannah Alty, was like an inhaler in that it gave us more breathing space at 37-12 early in the second period. The rest of this quarter saw Natalie Feurtado reek havoc with the speed cameras on the break as 'Blondie' Campbell and Katie Rowlands utilised their skill and size to good effect in the paint, moving us to 54-14 by half-time.
An impressive 29-5 third stanza arose from an approach which was more up-tempo than the liveliest Northern Soul dance track. Danni Johnson and Cat Meakin stylishly added their names to the list of scorers and Mystics' dominance was further re-inforced in the fourth to bring it to 108-25 by the end. This was despite the whole-hearted efforts of Jets' Alex Lord and Laura Wilson, in particular.
The on-court highlight for me, aside from Mollie's incredible 12 from 13 shooting conversion rate, was the totally unselfish play and stunning passing of our ballhandlers Megan (7 assists), Leah (6 assists), Lucy (5 assists) and Ashley (4 assists) as well as the fact that 6 players got into double figures and 9 of the 10 finished with a positive efficiency rating.
Thanks to all for their help and support.
Jim 7/2/12.
2 February 2012
Div 2 Manchester Mystics 108 - 24 Sheffield Hallam Hatters 2
City of Sheffield Hallam Hatters II came to the Amaechi last Saturday, not only with the longest name in sport (worth 120 as a triple word score in Scrabble!) but also able to say that they had been competitive in every fixture thus far in the season. Henceforth, only 1 of those statements rings true (and they have yet to shorten their name!.) They can consider themselves unfortunate to have crossed the Pennines on a day when all 10 Mystics were like a good choir - very much on song!
Our appearance on the show court was in keeping with the way the French prefer their steak - all too rare - and the team certainly got stuck in. In front of 6000 plus, sorry too many noughts, 60 plus spectators, thanks to the efforts of Jade 'rent a crowd' Lucas, who bribed a horde of her (immaculately behaved) pupils to attend, Mystics began on the front foot and then proceeded to accelerate! Sheffield were transformed into being like most husbands when asked by their wives why they'd prefer to watch any football match rather than take her shopping - they knew that they were in trouble but had no answer!
9 out of 10 Mystics had already scored in the 27-4 first quarter blow out and the only reason that the tenth, Megan Collins, hadn't was because she was pre-occupied setting up her team-mates in an attempt to enhance her growing reputation as the world's least selfish basketballer. The second period was equally one-sided at 28-4, so much so that the watching youngsters had now given up shrieking every time we scored and were probably wondering why you are allowed to tackle an opponent in basketball when you have to let them do whatever they want to in netball without trying to stop them!
The 10 minutes after the interval proved to be even more uncomfortable for Sheffield. I liken it to when you think that it's your fiftieth birthday only to realise that you are hopeless at maths and its actually your sixtieth! In other words, things went from bad to worse. It was like Custer's Last Stand and Mystics were the one's wearing war paint! 33 points from 8 different players elevated the score to 88-13 and some of the long-range passing from Jamie Curtis, Jade Lucas and Leah McDerment was as crisp as a frosty morning.
Sheffield do deserve respect for refusing to give up and fought hard to virtually double their tally in the fourth quarter to make the final score 108-24. This leaves Mystics clear at the top of the Division 2 table following another outstanding team performance which saw 8 players - Nicki Blakeway, Mollie Campbell, Emma Macready, Ashley Tensel, Nat Feurtado, Jamie, Leah and Jade record between 8 and 18 points and the other 2 - Megan and Cath Stansfield, feature prominently in the field (or court!) of assists and rebounds.
2 February 2012
U18 Manchester Mystics 108 - 25 Cheshire Juniors
27 January 2012
U18 Manchester Mystics 91 - 41 Sefton Stars
Sefton Stars certainly twinkled at times during their visit to Manchester last Tuesday to play the high-riding Mystics U18s. They put up stout resistance throughout and this was most beneficial as I sought to determine which 5 of the 10+ talented players in our squad are able to gel the most effectively. Contrary to popular belief, this is not always the 5 'strongest.' For example, putting the 5 highest scorers on together doesn't guarantee good team defence, and it's a fact of life that some very capable players simply can't play well with others of similar ability. Fillet steak and spotted dick are great separately but together they just don't work (I imagine!).
With this in mind, and following on from our narrow defeat to Haringey, I resolved to start this game with differing combinations in each quarter, ensuring that all 10 Mystics had their chance to begin. For starters, I overlooked the soup of the day and opted for Lucy Rogan, Leah McDerment, Mollie Campbell, Cath Stansfield and Megan Collins. (This had nothing to do with the fact that one of them had given me a bag of wine gums earlier!). It proved to be a tasty choice. They clicked almost immediately, as the 10-0 scoreline after 5 minutes reflects. (This combo also found themselves thrust together for the final 5 minutes of the game and did even better, winning that section 16-0.)
When they were unceremoniously benched, their replacements, Ashley Tensel, Katie Rowlands, Cat Meakin, Danni Johnson and Hannah Alty showed themselves to be equally effective offensively but were unable to provide another shut out, winning their 5 minute portion 8-7, with 4 points apiece for Katie and Danni, both of whom looked like a new pair of scissors - very sharp!
Mollie and Leah dominated the scoring for much of the second quarter with Lucy, obviously full of E additives, extremely active on the boards and with a string of assists, so that by half-time we led 46-22 as I sought to aportion court time equitably. Sefton came out in determined mood after the break and competed well for 5 minutes to make it 56-31 and keep the game alive as a viable contest. Mollie was then let loose again and played a big part in pushing us further ahead 66-34 with some beautiful inside moves on feeds from Megan and Lucy, in particular.
The fourth period began in fine style with Cat swishing a 3, followed by 3 eye-catching coast to coast moves from Ashley who was working well in tandem with Danni and Katie. Sefton, however, responded to these 9 points with 7 of their own before we closed the game out emphatically with the aforementioned 16-0 run to win 91-41.
Game stats can be misleading but they do indicate areas of strength and areas were there is room for improvement. One would expect a team's 2 point percentage to be superior to its 3 point one but the discrepancy in ours is telling. We shot a highly commendable 56% (41/73) inside the arc, compared to a less than impressive 14% (2/14) from behind it. Our dominance on the boards saw us pull 71% of all rebounds with the diminutive Lucy, Katie and Leah leading the way. The vision of the likes of Megan, Danni and Lucy enabled us to create a most impressive 32 assists but some sloppy passing ansd receiving resulted in 25 turnovers which is far too many. Ashley's predatory instincts gave her 6 steals and no Mystic finished the game with a negative efficiency rating. plenty of things there to raven, sorry, crow about but also lessons to be learned.
24 January 2012
Manchester Mystics 75 - 58 Mansfield Giants
Sometimes things go to plan, sometimes, like when Columbus mistook India for America, they don't. Last Saturday's trip to the Costa del Mansfield provided instances of both for our Senior Women's game against Mansfield Giants. In the absence of a sat-nav (I don't need 2 women telling me what to do!), we got lost, partly because I have the sense of direction of a bat whose radar has been switched off and partly because a local, who was supposed to help us, didn't know her left from her right! Our resultant mini tour of the town's tourist delights (the Odeon cinema, B&Q and Sainsburys), meant that we only had a 10 minute warm up. This was as helpful as a right hander being given left-handed scissors to cut his toe nails blind-folded! Equally beneficial to our cause was the fact that Mollie Campbell had cried off earlier in the day because her breakfast kept revisiting her! It left us devoid of anyone above 5'10 to battle on the boards with Giants' giants! This was a setback but our small team was, nevertheless, full of jewels - we had a squad of midget gems!
Anyone would have thought that the way we began the game that we had had very little warm up time and had no height! Mansfield's second biggest giant put them 2-5 up and for the opening 7 minutes we looked as if we were away with the fairies. (By this, I don't mean that the players had gone off on holiday with Tinkerbell and the Sugar Plum, I'm merely insinuating that some of our focus appeared to be elsewhere.) (At B&Q perhaps?) We now trailed 13-17 and simply were not playing hard enough. (We had previously blown Mansfield off the floor at home and maybe sub-consciously thought we would do so again, particularly as Jade Lucas has recently demonstrated how good she is at blowing off!)
I had been struggling to put a 5 on the floor who could both run the legs off our opponents (that's one way of making them smaller!) and compete on the boards. The introduction of 2 of the Stockport mafia, Cath Stansfield and Megan Collins then helped us in this. They, along with Nicki Blakeway, Leah McDerment and Jamie Curtis put together an 11-0 run to finish the first quarter 24-17 in front. Things now seemed to be going to plan but no-one told Mansfield. They upped their game to score 13 points in the next 9 minutes. This doesn't sound a lot until I divulge that our performance during this time was as effective as an electric car trying to run on gas, affording us just 5 points. The use of a cattle prod in a subsequent time-out did, however, result in 7 points being scored in the last minute so that we went into half-time on a positive note and 36-33 ahead.
This provided the impetus for a much-improved third period display. Threes from each of our talented guards, Jade, Jamie and Leah will have given the watching coach of our Trophy Final opponents, Loughborough, food for thought (a trio chocolate bar, possibly?). These 3 also took it in turn to feed Nicki inside and she increased her already healthy points tally for the season by dint of some excellent free-throw shooting as her marker sought to mark her! Natalie Feurtado and Emma Macready played their part by giving us some much-needed energy and both played very sound defence.
We now led 60-45 and seemed set for a very comfortable victory. 8 available players (Ashley Tensel had also cried off with an injured hand) then became 7 as Leah had to come off with a sore ankle. This was a great pity because she had grown into the game and had helped to open up Mansfield's zone with some accurate outside shooting and was also our leading assists maker on the day. Nicki, on the inside and Jamie and Jade, from 3 point territory, did extend the margin to 21 before 2 late scores from the opposition made it more respectable at 75-58.
The topsy-turvy nature of the day even extended to the journey home. The high winds buffeted the minibus so much that I felt that I was on a white knuckle ride at Alton Towers! It meant that it would have been imprudent to come back over the tops so we had no option but to double our mileage and return home via Cornwall! Given such turmoil, the driver can, hopefully, be forgiven for his use of what can most delicately be termed,'industrious' language. (I know it should be 'industrial,' but, in this instance, he had to work hard to find the correct swear word to use in the company of young ladies!)
Thanks to Aline for her help and support. Next game - Sheffield at home on Saturday 28 January, 3.30pm tip.
Jim.23/1/12
19 January 2012
Manchester Mystics 78 - 64 Reading Rockets
Semi-Final of Women's Nat Trophy
The final section of Mystics long trek down to Reading for our third successive road trip in the Women's Trophy had as many twists and turns in it as an Agatha Christie Murder Mystery. This only served to make some of our players nauseous, so much so that a couple of them looked so pale that I've seen healthier looking zombies!
With 6 of our squad of 10 virtually dead on their feet as a result of their exertions earlier in the day during the U18s double overtime game at home to Haringey, this was as welcome as a visit from your least favourite relative. Consequently, our warm-up for this Semi was as full of life as one of those zombies, i.e. as lively as a dead slug! Fortunately, I had 4 quality seniors to start the game with. Our fifth starter was Mollie Campbell because she was the only U18 who was still awake!
Reading Rockets were sitting at the top of the South Western Conference and had been enjoying an excellent run of form. My spies told me that they had a very strong first five and my scrutiny of the EB stats made it clear who needed special attention. However, neither of these sources prepared me for the fact that they had even more taller players than the appropriately named Mansfield Giants! Even with my failing eyesight, I immediately spotted 5 players of 6 feet plus (compared to our team's average height of 3 feet 10!)
What's that saying about size? So it proved. It did, however, enable our opponents to make it extremely difficult for us to score in the paint. Our normally prolific quartet of non-midgets, Nicki Blakeway, Mollie Campbell, Emma Macready and Cath Stansfield were like surgeons in a very small theatre - they had no room to operate in! We, therefore had to find other ways to score. Jade Lucas and Jamie Curtis, who were both nothing short of brilliant on the day, (Jade's words, not mine. Only joking.) obliged by way of some phenomenal (Megan's word!) outside shooting. They were as accurate as Willibin Hell (a combination of William Tell and Robin Hood!). The pair combined to score no less than 80% of our 20 first quarter points and continued to dominate the scoring thereafter.(Greedy so and so's!) Reading's outstanding player, Becky Lear was proving to be the one thorn in our side so far, making all but 4 of her side's 13 points in the first 10 minutes, including 5 out of 5 from the line, as Nicki and Mollie got into early foul trouble in their attempts to flatten her!
A 3-point play from the now as fit as half a fiddle Ashley Tensel, extended our advantage to 10 and I foolishly envisaged a comfortable victory. Not for the first time - just ask my wife - I was wrong. Sparked by 3s from ex-Division 1 player, Michelle Smythe, and the non-stop Ramona Brown, our lead disappeared as quickly as a pint of Guinness in the hands of a thirsty Irishman, so that with 3 minutes remaining until half-time, it was 25 all. Slipping into my grumpy old man mode, (which I find increasingly easy to do these days!) I harshly questioned the team's desire to get through to the Trophy Final. This is somewhat akin to a husband questioning his wife's love of buying clothes! My grumbling obviously did the trick because we then went 28-29 down! Thankfully, hoops from the ever-reliable Nicki and Jade, who never take any notice of me anyway! spared my blushes to help us shade the half 32-29, as our efficient team defence, exemplified by the ubiquitous Megan Collins, had now honed in on Becky Lear, restricting her to just 1 more basket in the whole of the second quarter.
With this usually fertile avenue now blocked, Reading's principle weapon suddenly put the lights in the sports hall ceiling in severe danger as they opted to heave 3 pointers from down town at regular intervals. Reading is, of course, in Berkshire, but some of these originated in Surrey! ( I exaggerate for literary effect.) 1 went in and couple more ended up as air balls but it did have the effect of energising the sizeable crowd - they were all as tall as the Reading players! This, in turn, lifted the home side's resolve. Reading were demonstrating to us that we would have to fight really hard if we were to overcome them and at 33-32, it was anybody's game, particularly as their key-clogging defence was limiting our scoring in the paint to a minimum.
If the foot soldiers can't make much headway then look to the cavalry! Step up Jade, Jamie and Leah McDerment. Threes from all 3 took it to 44-34 and fast break points from Emma and Ashley made it even more healthy at 51-39 with 2 minutes to go in the third. But when you are playing a team called Rockets you should expect fireworks! They came in the form of two more long-range 3s and 2 free throws from Ramona Brown. She scored again right at the start of the fourth and at 54-49, from being as comfortable as lounging in a 5 star hotel in Cyprus, we were now camping in the rain in the Lake District!
I'm glad to say that our fabulous group of young ladies does have the habit of raising its game when it really needs to, and it did so once again here. Natalie Feurtado played no small part in this resurgence. Her energy and determination served as a catalyst for what was a first-class end game by the team. Yet more precision shooting from Jade saw us sitting pretty (these girls do take a nice photo!) at 66-53 going into the final 5 minutes. Incredibly, the pesky southerners responded for the umpteenth time! The pocket battleship that is Ramona Brown bombarded us with a succession of 3s from beyond NBA range. Two went in and a couple more went on to be classified as UFO's! Michelle Smythe sneaked another 3 in via the backboard to send the crowd wild at 69-64 with just over a minute left.. It was like trying to get rid of a bad rash!
As I hinted, the spectators were going crazy, but far from the madding crowd, Mystics maintained their poise. Jamie and Jade swished a brace of 3s and a lovely back door move for 2 from Leah promptly sealed our victory during a 9-0 burst. This hard-earned but deserved triumph heralds (!) an appearance in the Trophy Final versus Loughborough at Nottingham on 5 February. Mystics U16s will also be in action there on that day, in their Age-group Final thanks to their tremendous win over a very strong Southend Swifts. Congratulations to them.
17 January 2012
U18 Manchester Mystics 46 - 52** Haringey Angels
U18 SureShot Cup Semi-Final
The vast majority of basketball players in this country aren't fortunate (or good) enough) to help their team through to a Cup Semi-final during the whole of their careers. Six Mystics U18s were faced with the prospect of playing 2 in the same day last Sunday! First up, at a time that many people don't even know exists - 10.20 in the morning - it was the mighty Haringey Angels (with no-one called Gabriel or Of The North) at home in the Semi-final of the U18s Sureshot Cup.
Haringey's own team is as strong as super-glue, but just to make sure that they are almost invincible at this age-group, nowadays they can legitimately supplement their already highly talented squad by bringing in players from anywhere in the country who belong to the Barking Abbey Academy. To me, that's a bit like telling Tarzan he needs to go on a weight training course to build up his strength! The upshot of this meant that the 'mere' 8 internationals that they have produced themselves locally could join forces with 2 more England recruits in the form of national League Division 1 starlets, Michelle Turner and Lana Doran (who I nearly turned into an Irish Eurovision winner by calling her Dana!)
Unable to call upon any 7 footers from Loreto Academy, or anywhere else in Moss Side, we went with our usual 11 which, like all good plasma televisions, had the technical make-up and all-round quality to step up to the mark. (Or should that now be euro?) I wanted to catch the opposition cold so I opened all the doors and windows and put on the air-con as well as deciding to start with 5 of our quicker players in Lucy Rogan, Natalie Feurtado, Leah McDerment (all Olympic class sprinters!), Cat Meakin and Ashley Tensel with instructions to press from the outset. Despite being as seriously out-heighted as Lester Piggot would be when looking up to Shaquille O'Neale, this had the desired effect of unsettling the opposition. Buckets from Leah and Nat gave us a 4-2 advantage in the initial stages.(I.S.!)
Following an early time out from Haringey's coach, I opted to try to keep them guessing by bringing on 2 of our usual starters, Mollie Campbell and Cath Stansfield, accompanied by the vertically challenged but very speedy Megan Collins, in an attempt to counter their rebounding threat. Two scores from Mollie, 1 from Leah and 1 from Cath were only answered by a 3 from Michelle Turner.12-7 up after 8 minutes constituted a dream start and served to prove that they were undoubtedly a match for such a revered team. However, a 0-9 run either side of the 10 minute mark put us on the back foot at 12-16 and would have been sufficient to cause many teams to crumble. Haringey are normally unstoppable when they get themselves in front but, inspired by the dynamic Captain Courageous, Lucy and her girls, even the blondes, had other ideas.
It was our turn to shine again. In an enthralling contest which had as many as 12 lead changes, our never-say-die attitude stayed alive and brought us back level at 20-20 after 17 minutes of battling, rather than beautiful, basketball. A second 3 from Michelle Turner did ensure that Haringey shaded the first half 22-24 in spite of a put back from the lively Katie Rowlands (who had been eating blue sweets!) Defences had certainly been on top and had allowed neither offense to run as smoothly as it was used to doing, but Mystics had certainly demonstrated that they had the wherewithal (whatever that means!) to push Haringey all the way.
A hugely encouraging start to the third quarter in the form of a brilliant spell of up-tempo basketball saw us burst into a 6 point lead with a 10-2 run over 4 minutes. (Such excellent cameos are easily overlooked when the latter stages of a game are so hard-fought and dogged.) Not even Mystic Meg or Russell Grant know what might have happened had we then consolidated our lead by continuing to shoot well from the free throw line, as we had done up to this juncture. Maybe it was the pressure of actually realising that we could now come away with a victory that few had predicted, maybe it was dodgy eyesight or maybe it was just poor shooting, whatever it was, it resulted in us missing 6 of our next 8 foul shots. (If only 1 of them had gone in!) Such profligacy lifted Haringey's sagging spirits and helped them claw their way back to 34-35 going into the all-important fourth period.
With all to play for, both teams became even more cautious and hesitant on offense in the face of such tough and determined defences. This made the game less attractive for the purist but it continued to be a great spectacle with no quarter given by either side. A basket from Mollie and 2 free throws from Leah were all we had to show for 6 minutes of hard labour but outstanding team defence also limited our opponents to just 2 scores. A 3 from Ashley tied it at 41-41, only for both sides to have the opportunity to win the game from the free throw line. They each declined to do so, making 1 out of 2 to take us into a 5 minute period of overtime, a situation totally foreign to either team.
Haringey's strategy of being able to replace 5 England internationals with 5 more and with no discerning dip in quality naturally meant that their unit would be far less tired, both mentally and physically than our protagonists, who, in such a tight game had been afforded far less rest than even an insomniac gets. It genuinely appeared that this would be the deciding factor as we fell behind 42-45 with time running out. A free throw from Mollie and a last gasp two from Katie had the same effect as Gonzo rescuing Miss Piggy - it saved our bacon and gave us a second period of overtime. For our girls, this must have been akin to having just run a marathon and then being asked to swim the channel in calipers!
Understandably, it turned out to be 1 obstacle too far. For the one and only time during this mammoth encounter, Mystics were unable to cope with the enormous pressure. We could only manage 1 point in 5 minutes via a Cat Meakin free throw to finish on the wrong end of a 46-52 thriller. The biggest compliment that I can pay our girls is that their determination, effort and superb defence made many onlookers wonder what all the fuss about this Haringey team is based on. What some fail to appreciate is that you can sometimes only play as well as the other team let you play. We fought so hard that we actually won 2 and tied 1 of the 4 quarters in normal game time despite not being able to play as fluently as we invariably do. Because the opposition were not permitted to be dominant by way of scoring as they typically do on the break or through lay ups, they were forced to resort to throwing up more prayers than can be witnessed in 50 school carol services! Our defence and their poor shot selection saw them shoot a ridiculously paltry 19% and gave the impression to some that they are not the force that they actually are. This included an amazing 40 three-point attempts which, for many teams is a whole season's worth but shows that they, too, felt the pressure, particularly as only 3 (all from Michelle Turner) were successful.
Rather than seeking out individual mistakes, perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the whole affair lies in the fact that on 2 occasions Haringey scored from 2 buzzer beaters in the third and fourth quarters, both following terrific team defence from the home side for 23.9 seconds. Such is the fine line.... One tenth of a second later and we would have been celebrating rather than commiserating. Nevertheless, there is much to build upon - and much to learn and work on - after such a whole-hearted display and we should all come out of this viewing it as a very positive experience.
Thanks to all for their fantastic support and assistance.
17 January 2012
Manchester Mystics 124 - 17 Newcastle
It proved to be a mixed weekend for the Newcastle Eagles club; their Senior Men got their hands on the BBL Cup but all their Senior Women could really get their hands on were the after-match sandwiches during their visit to the Amaechi last Saturday! I started the game with our 4 most senior players (Nicki Blakeway, Emma Macready, Jamie Curtis and Jade Lucas plus our most junior one, Hannah Alty, and it was Hannah who featured most prominently during the opening 16-0 salvo. These 5 were then dumped on the bench to be replaced by Mollie Campbell, Leah McDerment, Ashley Tensel, Megan Collins and Cath Stansfield. In a similar amount of time, they proved to be similarly impressive, easing the score up to 36-0 by the end of the first quarter.
Despite Newcastle's whole-hearted approach, Mystics found it just as easy to score in the second, doubling their tally by half-time but this time, the spirited (by that, I mean enthusiastic and willing rather than full of gin!) north-easterners did register 9 points themselves and showed some nice touches to finish off some of their set plays.
Even though the scoreline was already as one-sided as a double-headed coin used in a toss-up, the game was played in excellent spirit as 72-9 became 98-9 in no more time than it takes for me to put my socks on every morning.(10 minutes!) Newcastle were experiencing no difficulty in bringing the ball up but did find it as hard to break down Mystics well-organised defence as I find it to understand Chinese!
It finished 124-17 with as many as 7 Mystics in double figures and 2 more on 8 apiece, as well as 38 team assists (including 10 from the 'Assists Queen,' Jamie, or is it Jammy?) These stats re-emphasise our team motto of 'nota bene, sine die, ad hoc, compos mentis,' which roughly translates as ' team first, individuals take up badminton.'
Some of our first-time passing was as breath-taking as pneumonia and would, hopefully, stand the team in good stead for the Trophy Semi-final at Reading (not an easy word for illiterate people!) the day after.
Thanks to all for their support.
10 January 2012
U18 Manchester Mystics 71 - 24 Hatfield
Doncaster in January can be as welcoming as a dose of shingles, but last Saturday's visit to play Hatfield U18s was a pleasant experience. En route (French for 'are we lost again?'), the girls treated us to a medley of tunes, some of which were recognisable, others less so, and the game itself proved to be a useful exercise in getting rid of Christmas excesses. Although the scoreline suggests it was no more than a stroll, Hatfield defended determinedly and passed the ball around accurately. It must be said that the lack of a 24 second clock and local rules did mean that many of their offenses seemed to last for longer than it takes to hard boil an egg but they made us work for our win.
Indeed, after a lively opening, generated by 3 quick baskets from Lucy Rogan and scores from Ashley Tensel, Leah McDerment and Natalie Feurtado to see us 11-2 up after 7 minutes, the home side hit back to end the first period at 13-8. Our response was thoroughly positive. Having seemingly run out of petrol - like a certain assistant coach! - the team played on a full tank up to half time, winning the second quarter 24-5 with an exhibition of fast break basketball at its best. With Mollie Campbell, Katie Rowlands, Cat Meakin and Hannah Alty owning the boards and Megan Collins, Danni Johnson, Ashley, Leah, Lucy and Natalie sharing the ball on speed, sorry, at speed, it was as if someone had pressed the fast forward button.
The third quarter went much the same way to bring the score to 59-22 but we were less clinical in the fourth and squandered more than a few opportunities to increase our lead to seismic proportions. Nevertheless, everyone maintained their focus at the defensive end and we proved as generous as Scrooge, giving up just 2 points while Hannah showed the way offensively with 6 points in the last 2 minutes to make it 71-24.
All 10 Mystics got good minutes and, although important in its own right, this game was an ideal forerunner to next week's cup semi-final at home to Haringey which tips off at 10.20am. All support welcome.
21 December 2011
Manchester Mystics 116 - 19 Sunderland
If you told someone that you were going on a trip to the Far East over Christmas, they would probably expect you to be off to Bethlehem or Jerusalem. Our jaunt eastwards took us to Sunderland! The festive spirit saw the Mystics women adorned in Christmassy red and gold ribbons and even extended to them presenting Sunderland with early Xmas gifts by way of a 0-4 lead! A request for them to become more Scrooge-like defensively then resulted in us going on a 46-2 run! The eventual scoreline of 116-19 is an accurate indication of the gulf in ability between the 2 sides but Mystics deserve credit for treating their opponents with respect and maintaining their discipline throughout such a one-sided game, as do Sunderland for never letting their heads drop lower than their knees!
Being a touch more canny, it was the older contingent, Jade Lucas, Nicki Blakeway, Emma Macready and Jamie Curtis who recognised that this was an ideal opportunity to boost their scoring averages! Consequently, they were responsible for 60 of the 88 shots we took, i.e. 15 apiece. This meant that our innocent younger players, Megan Collins, Ashley Tensel, Leah McDerment and Hannah Alty only averaged 7 shots each. Not that anyone minded. They were more than happy to provide the passes and be credited with assists, in keeping with the superb team spirit within the group. Everyone was afforded a similar amount of court time and they all played with smiles on their faces throughout a game played, and refereed, in excellent spirit. In fact, it was so chummy that our team spent 1 time out on court chatting up the refs!
The singing on the way home was not quite up to the standard of the U18s the day before which was admirably led by Leah and Megan (With Megan being a Welsh name all she needs is 1 more person and she can form a choir!) but today's result does leave us unbeaten in the league going into the New Year. We also have a Trophy semi-final at Reading on 15 January to look forward to.
20 December 2011
Under 18 Manchester Mystics 62 - 36 Doncaster
Doncaster is traditionally a notoriously difficult place to come away from with a win - they put cling film over 1 of the hoops! - but Mystics U18s managed it last Saturday in generally fine style, despite fielding a vertically challenged side in the absence of the 6ft 9 Katie Rowlands and the 6 ft 7 Cath Stansfield. With everybody, including (Ronald Mc)Donald and me on our best behaviour, we began like a house on fire (perhaps unsurprisingly as 1 of our starters is called Ash!) In the time it takes me to get back up after I've fallen over (5 minutes), we were 15-0 up and the first 5 of Lucy Rogan, Leah McDerment, Mollie Campbell, Ashley Tensel and Megan Collins (all of whom have ankles as dodgy as Bruce Forsyth's wig!) were proving as unstoppable as a runaway train.
The first quarter ended 19-5. Mollie was then called for her second foul - she blinked in a threatening manner! - and was substituted 1 minute into the second period which meant that we were now devoid of any genuine height unless Megan stood on a ladder! Doncaster took advantage and embarked on a 0-6 run as Mystics continued to create but contrived to miss lay up after lay up as they squinted into the sun, having forgotten to bring their shades with them! After a few more misses, the excellent Ashley and the dynamic Nat Feurtado, who spent more time horizontal than vertical (the opposition kept tripping her up!) settled us down again so that by half-time we were in command at 27-15.
We knew that if we could continue to curb the threat of Doncaster's 2 principle scoring threats, Ashley Sumner who Leah had restricted to just 1 basket and a free throw, and Holly (a good name for a Christmas fixture. Pity they didn't have anyone called Ivy!) Hodson, who Ash and Cat Meakin were looking after very effectively, we would probably be able to extend our lead but I never dreamt that we would be as dominant as we were in the third. With Mollie re-instated, we found numerous different ways to score and defended so well as a unit that, apart from 2 free throws, our opponents had to wait until the last minute of the quarter to score. We took the stanza 22-4 with 7 different scorers registering, including the much-improved Danni Johnson and were now 49-19 ahead going into the final quarter. Some impressive sharp-shooting from Leah and a basket from the ever-reliable Hannah Alty then extended our lead to 37 with 6 minutes remaining.
Doncaster then made the most of the fact that 4 of our starters were now confined to getting splinters on the bench for the rest of the proceedings and played well to finish with a 4-15 flurry (which would have been a McFlurry if any of them had been Scottish!) to make the scoreline more respectable at 62-36. Once more, our U18s had shown that they have more than just ball skills. Their mental toughness to come back so strongly after a distinctly shakey start to the second quarter and the self-dicipline they showed to ignore all negatives was admirable. (Is that 1 rank above a captain?) Well done ladies!
15 December 2011
Manchester Mystics 97 - 35 Cheshire Jets
Sureshot U18 Women Quarter Final
Having already convincingly beaten Cheshire Jets (who are obviously older than Cheshire Juniors!) earlier in the season, it's quite possible that some Mystics U18s came into last Tuesday's Cup Quarter Final believing that it would be no more difficult than riding a rocking horse. The trouble was that once the game had started it became apparent that this rocking horse was covered in grease, causing us to come an early cropper!
Our starters moved the ball well enough but our shooting in the opening 6 minutes was as lethal as a water pistol! Consequently, we trailed 6-7 and, like the Navy, looked all at sea! A re-focus was called for and quicker ball and player movement resulted in 17 further points in the next 4 minutes. Much credit for this must go to Ashley Tensel and Natalie Feurtado who were both in scintillating form. Just like Mollie's attempts at singing, we had been out of tune but were now very much on song to the tune of a 28-3 second quarter which was as one-sided as a chair with two and a half legs! Mollie Campell put any thoughts of trying out for X factor to the back of her mind and began to do what she does best - score from close range. She and the ever-improving Katie Rowlands were as troublesome inside as a very naughty child fuelled by a whole bag of Haribos and 3 bottles of Pepsi!
By half-time we were 51-13 up against a side with some good players in it but who could not cope with the sheer speed of the Mystics transitional game. To their credit, Cheshire (who weren't at all cheesey!) did shoot well in the third quarter and kept going right to the end as we picked and mixed our 5s in no particular order.
Megan Collins, Lucy Rogan, Hannah Alty, Leah McDerment and Ashley amassed 17 assists between them and some of their passing made me think I'd become asthmatic - it was breath-taking! Mollie and Katie pulled an amazing 29 rebounds (3 more than the entire Cheshire team) and were well supported by Cat Meakin who kept chanting their names as well as weighing in with 5 defensive boards of her own! Cath Stansfield continued to impress to lead all scorers with 21 points, shooting an incredible 71%, causing our 2 French speaking players to remark: 'C'est incroyable,' to which one of the team who has trouble speaking English and knows virtually no French added a heart-felt 'Ooh,la,la!'
Our top stealers (as opposed to pick-pockets) on this occasion were Ashley, Lucy and Danni so watch your wallets when they are around! Danni also took time to enter the land of the giants. Usually, blocking shots is reserved for forwards and centres and it was no surprise that Mollie and Hannah did so. It was,however, a champagne moment (or,maybe a wine gum moment) to witness Danni swotting a shot away as if she was decking an unsuspecting bluebottle!
Our 97-35 victory gives us a home tie in the semi-final against Haringey early in the New Year. It should be a cracking encounter and the girls will be up for the challenge.
14 December 2011
Manchester Mystics 71 - 54 Wellingborough
Our trip to the southern hemisphere to Wellingborough was as uneventful as an edition of Big Brother and we arrived with so much time to spare that several Mystics were able to book hair appointments at Meg's Salon prior to tip off. In front of a much bigger crowd than the day before (they were all over 7 feet tall!), the younger members of the team prepared themselves for what was bound to be a challenging event by way of playing rounders with some tin foil and a can of hairspray while the older ones did their knitting in the corner of the sports hall. I spent my time fretting over the fact that 1 of the referees was called Batty but I needn't have done because he didn't live up to his name and both he and his partner were very fair and very consistent throughout.
It was immediately apparent that Wellingborough had both size and speed at their disposal (Laura Size and Debbie Speed?) as they scored straight from the tip.(Herein, I don't mean via the rubbish dump, I just mean on the first possession.) We hit back with a 2 and 2 free throws from a very lively Emma Macready.(It must be the raspberry jelly!) and our first 5 of Nicki Blakeway, Jamie Curtis, Leah McDerment, Mollie Campbell and Emma settled in assuredly to give us a 12-6 lead by way of a 3 pointer from Jamie, a 2 from the corner from Emma and 2 frees from Nicki whose free throw shooting was as sharp as a very sharp knife from start to finish.
Following a couple of substitutions brought about by early foul trouble, our opponents hit back with a 3 point play which proved to be the start of a 2-14 run which gave them a 14-20 lead by the end of the quarter. We had failed to get out to their shooters quickly enough and our helpside defence needed to respond earlier if we were to have any chance of altering this sudden slide against very dangerous, well-organised, physical opponents. Fortunately, as is usually the case with this group of players, they found a way to overcome the obstacles before them. Our team defence became more pro-active from now on and we only gave up 34 more points over the remaining 30 minutes. This was due to the defence giving the opposition as little space as you get on a Ryan Air jet!
With Mollie Campbell truly phenomenal on the defensive boards, we were able to control the tempo and Wellingborough now had to use up energy running back to their basket rather than on their own fast break. This made them as happy as someone who'd found a fiver but lost a tenner! It ultimately had a telling effect on the final outcome in that we were able to finish far less fatigued than they did. We chipped away at the deficit and were equally effective from the inside as we were on the outside. This prompted their coach to go to a zone which suited the ebullient Lucy Rogan, Cath Stansfield and Ashley Tensel who helped us re-establish parity at 33-33 by half-time.
I began the third quarter with Nicki, Jamie, Mollie, Emma and the excellent Jade Lucas in the hope that their experience and talent would help us to get our noses in front. (Unlike the coach, the other 5 all have very small beaks!) It could not have gone any better. All 5 scored, all 5 played great defence and all 5 hardly put a foot wrong. Like rabies, it proved to be infectious and 2 free throws from Megan and a strong drive from Leah put the icing on the cake to give us a 16 point lead at 59-43 by the end of the third.
Despite my liberal use of substitutions during the fourth period,Wellingborough were unable to eat into our lead and the team played percentage basketball for most of the remaining 10 minutes to see us home 71-54. This means, to quote Man City's fluent English speaking Italian coach, Mr. Mancini, that we have 'qualificated' for the Semi-final where we have yet another away tie - our third in a row - down at Reading Rockets on 15 January. Be ready for some fireworks!
13 December 2011
Manchester Mystics 107 - 26 Doncaster Danum Eagles
When I saw that the Senior Women were due to play Doncaster Danum Eagles last Saturday, I had another of my misreading moments, thinking it said Denim Eagles, prompting visions of them running out to play in jeans! It's their first season in the league so I was unsure of what to expect but once I noticed that their player-coach was called N.Snowden I knew that we would have a mountain to climb!
In front of a small crowd - none of the spectators was over 5ft 3 - Mystics put on a high standard of team basketball throughout the full 40 minutes. The ball movement was exceptional and delightful to watch. It did not matter which 5 of the 11 was on court. It was far more entertaining than watching an overweight, out of breath astrologer prancing around on Strictly Come Dancing!
In terms of sharing the basketball (or rock as they call it in America where they can't speak English properly), this team has no selfish players, as can be shown by the fact that no less than 7 of them got into double figures yet none got more than 18. Statistically, there were stand-out performances from Jamie Curtis who again showed why she is the league leader in assists with 9 more to add to her tally, Mollie Campbell and Cath Stansfield who both played superbly recorded double doubles in points and rebounds. However, if I was to award an MVP for this game it would go to the whole team en bloc so I feel duty bound to praise everyone since they all made the most of their pretty even share of minutes to contribute to the 107-26 scoreline.
In no particular order, Megan Collins had an especially good game, working tirelessly on defence and sharing the ball selflessly throughout. Nicki Blakeway was her usual effective, uncomplicated self, playing great defence and scoring almost at will in the paint. Ashley Tensel utilised her quickness to steal the ball and then used it to good effect with some beautiful long-range feeds. Emma Macready did everything but finish really well. Leah McDerment again showed her undoubted class at both ends of the court and her decision-making was especially impressive. Nat Feurtado did what Nat does. She sprinted up and down court like a greyhound on heat and drew gasps of amazement from anyone whose eyesight was good enough to spot her flying past. Cat Meakin shot the lights out but luckily, someone kindly kept switching them back on. Last but by no means least, Katie Rowlands overcame catarrh (isn't that a country?), a cold, laryngitis and bad knees/ankles to shoot perform generally really well against gallant opponents who never gave up.
With no further injuries, the game served as a useful warm-up for our first-ever trip the following day down south to Northampton to play the tough Wellingborough Phoenix in the Trophy Quarter Final. This would be no easy tie against a side who were in Division 1 just 2 years ago, although our confidence was as high as 2 kites following today's performance.
7 December 2011
U18 Manchester Mystics 103 - 27 Cheshire Juniors
Jets, things were as clear as astro physics.
On deciding my starting 5, I opted for just 4 of the 6 who had a bad ankle - Lucy Rogan, Leah McDerment, Mollie Campbell and Ashley Tensel - plus the player with the worst cough - Cath Stansfield. Of the remaining players, Megan Collins and Hannah Alty fit nicely into the first section whereas Nat Feurtado, Danni Johnson and Cat Meakin were merely suffering from hypothermia in a sports hall which made Bury's Elton High School feel like a sauna! (At least there was no need for anyone to ice their ankles prior to the tip!)
All 4 quarters saw all 10 Mystics get good court time and we showed our strength in depth by winning each period with relative ease, 26-8, 19-10, 28-2 and 30-7, against gallant but less experienced opponents who kept going right to the end. Points-wise, Leah led the way, with Mollie, Ash (who sounds like she was on fire!) and Lucy not far behind and Danni, Nat plus Hannah also in double figures. Megan could have joined the list but she prefers to unselfishly assist her team-mates to score. Cat, by her own admission, on this occasion, probably wouldn't have got to double figures if we were still playing now but she kept going and played excellent defence. She is too good a player for it to be long before she is back in the groove. Catherine the Second contented herself by getting loads of rebounds between shivvers and playing good defence throughout.
The performance was highlighted by some mesmerising passing and a willingness to share the ball. Even though the game was essentially won by half-time, no-one got sloppy thereafter and everyone retained their defensive intensity.(Perhaps it was just too cold to stand still!.) Coincidentally, Mystics u18s next game is against the other Cheshire side, who have changed their name from Warrington because that has got too many letters in it! It's a Cup Quarter Final next Tuesday. They are the Jets but let's hope that we are the team flying into the semi-final.
Thanks to all for their much-valued support and assistance.
6 December 2011
Manchester Mystics 70 - 33 Bury Blue Devils
Whenever you come up against Bury Blue Devils, whether they are playing in blue (the Blue Burys) or black (the Black Burys), you know that it will be a competitive game but that it will be played in good spirit. Having met them 6 weeks ago in the Trophy, I was aware that we would have to guard against the prodigious 3 point threats of that well known group, Newcombe, Clayden and Briacz, as well as the inside strength of Beverley Hills, sorry, Mel Hills and Sarah Labrow.
I detailed Nicki Blakeway and Naomi, sorry, Mollie Campbell to deal with their forwards and Jamie Curtis, Jade Lucas and Leah McDerment to disarm their shooters. So well did each one do that after fully 8 minutes, all Bury had to show for their efforts was a single point from a free throw. Mystics team defence had been as tight as spray-on jeans on a fat bloke! Bury had also played good defence to ensure that they were still in contention at 13-5 going into the second quarter.
Our defensive efficiency was then somewhat disrupted by my propensity for making random substitutions but, offensively, we flourished with baskets in the paint from Nicki and Mollie plus frequent visits to the foul line, courtesy of our policy of 'looking inside first,' which is also a good piece of advice when putting on a pair of wellies which have been left in the garden for a while!
At the interval, there wasn't any popcorn to be found but we were 34-21 up, despite Bury's stubborn, well-organised resistance. I could pretend that my half-time speech then turned the game like one of Fergie's famous rants but the only thing that he and I have in common is that we both have a bus pass! For me to claim that I was responsible for what happened next would be as inaccurate as saying that Victoria Beckham looks overweight! Mystics' stunning play during the third quarter was down purely to outstanding team play at both ends. Nicki ran riot in the key, ably fed by our ever-reliable, unselfish guards, Jamie, Leah, Jade and the ever-improving duo of Ashley Tensel and Megan Collins. Lucy Rogan, Katie Rowlands and Cath Stansfield again looked comfortable at this level and all 3 made positive contributions to help us put together a devastating 26-5 run.
Even at 60-26, Bury did not let their heads drop and upped their intensity throughout the last 10 minutes as Mystics ran their bench and secured an impressive 70-33 victory, based on an awesome defensive display, to leave them with a 4 and 0 league record going into next week's games against Doncaster Danum Eagles at home in the League on Saturday and a Trophy Quarter Final at Wellingborough on Sunday.
Thanks to all for their much-valued support.
23 November 2011
Manchester Mystics 36 - 86 UWIC
National Cup Quarter Final
Last Sunday, with the opposition having lovingly brought forward the tip by half an hour, began with me having to force myself to get up to eat breakfast not long after I'd finished my Saturday evening supper! It was so early that I had to forego doing my paper round! Leaving the centre at 6.45 a.m. bleary eyed and semi-conscious (and that was just the security guard on the gate!), Mystics Senior Women embarked on their first European venture, destination Cardiff. Unsure as to whether we needed euros or Welsh pounds, we set off in hope rather than expectancy in the knowledge that UWIC have so many good players that they could easily put out 2 teams, both of whom would probably finish in the top 4 of division 1. Ironically, although they were the Welsh side, it was us who were David to their Goliath, particularly as, in the absence of the injured Mollie Campbell, we were reduced to just 1 six footer compared to their 5! Striving for the positives, at least if lightning were to strike their sports hall, they would be in more danger than we would!
The journey down was as uneventful as a game of netball but the first words we heard upon arrival in a foreign land proved to be prophetic. As soon as we walked into the sports complex, a squash coach - he was orange! - said 'You lost.' I wanted to reply that this was quite possible given that UWIC are considered by some to be the best team in Wales/Britain/the Universe with senior players recruited from far and wide, including America, Germany, Scotland and Sussex (but strangely none from Wales!) By contrast, we are a 2nd Division team, composed mainly of Under 18 players with nothing more exotic than 2 scousers!
It transpired that I had misunderstood the man's comment. Apparently, in Cardiff they don't see the need to start sentences with 'are.' The squash bloke merely wanted to point us in the right direction! We then settled down to watch a boys' game which included an unscheduled fight for the Welsh lightweight championship and resulted in disqualification for the kid with curly hair.
Being abroad, it wasn't cold but we warmed up anyway and were ready to make the day a positive experience, regardless of the outcome. We almost got off to the perfect start. The 5 foot 9 Nicki Blakeway faced up (and looked up) to the 6 foot 4 Hannah Shaw at the tip. We were all 'shaw' who was going to win it but we had a little ploy up our sleeves. It didn't involve taking her down at the knees but it did result in an open lay up for us to get us up and running. Unfortunately, it was missed. Had it been scored, I would have asked our section of the crowd (all 4 of them) to invade the court to force the game to be abandoned while we were still in the lead!
Having recruited so well, and that includes bringing in ex-Mystic Kristy Shiels/Sheils/Sheilds, UWIC were able to substitute 1 international for another and maintain fresh legs for their efficient, aggressive trapping zone press which they kindly maintained right up to the end. The ferocity and effectiveness of such pressure was entirely new to us. We struggled to cope with it in the first half and whenever we turned the ball over, they scored on the break. Scoring for us was also problematic as their swarming defence was quick to shut us down in the paint whenever we got the ball into leading scorer Nicki Blakeway, who severely missed the presence of Mollie Campbell. Our shooters got little chance to show their skill because they always seemed to have a hand in their face (which could be seen as an improvement in some cases!)
At the end of a first quarter which ended 6-17,we could, however, take comfort from the fact that, other than from the turnovers, UWIC did not find it easy to break our hard-working defence down - they eventually missed 10 of the 11 three point shots they took - but we did need to discover ways to score ourselves as only Jade Lucas and Jamie Curtis had managed to do so thus far. Offensively, we fared somewhat better in the second period as Emma Macready, Katie Rowlands, Leah McDerment and Ashley Tensel opened their accounts but we were guilty of over-dribbling against the press and invited traps at the sidelines. Superior size and strength limited our second chance opportunities and meant that UWIC were able to control the boards and, with it, the tempo.
A half-time scoreline of 17-45 felt as pleasant as a bout of food poisoning but it did not reflect the positive energy, effort and commitment shown by every Mystic already mentioned along with Cath Stansfield and the lively Megan Collins.(E additives!) Local rules meant that we had only been able to secure 3 fouls in the face of non-stop pressure defence and had visited the free throw line just once! We had to find ways to change this. (I told the girls to smile at the referees more!) Our team talk during the interval centred mainly on how to rectify our mistakes. I re-emphasised the need to pass, rather than dribble, the ball out of the press. It finally struck a chord, resulting in far fewer turnovers and, consequently, limited fast break opportunities for our illustrious opponents and I can honestly say that for the next 10 minutes we were the better side. Jamie and Jade hit medium range jumpers, Ashley began and ended the quarter with strong moves to the hoop and Leah took over gloriously to produce a memorable cameo which saw her score 7 points in 5 minutes prior to her being forced to retire (not because she is 65 but because she re-injured her ankle!). As a result, we deservedly won the quarter 15-12 to bring more respectability to the score at 32-57.
Like a James Bond Martini - shaken not stirred - UWIC must have been stung by this and came back at us with a vengeance (but still not many fouls or free throws!) They dominated the fourth quarter from start to finish yet still felt the need to press even when they had doubled their lead to 50! We had stopped passing the ball and had reverted to putting the ball on the floor (and sometimes forgetting to pick it up again!) Having competed manfully/womanfully for much of the previous 30 minutes, we capitulated for the final 10 and were over-run 4-29 to end 36-86.
Although UWIC thoroughly deserved their comprehensive victory, our young team can be justifiably proud of their efforts against such a powerful team containing 6 GB internationals who train every day. Lessons have been learnt and we should be all the stronger for it.
Thanks to all for their fantastic support.
22 November 2011
U18 Manchester Mystics 50 - 47 Nottingham Wildcats
15 November 2011
Manchester Mystics 75 - 58 Sefton Starlights
Women's Trophy
15 November 2011
U18 Manchester Mystics 98 - 27 Cheshire Juniors
8 November 2011
Manchester Mystics 84 - 45 Sheffield Hatters 2
8 November 2011
U18 Manchester Mystics 93 - 21 Bury Blue Devils
3 November 2011
U18 Manchester Mystics 81 - 16 Cheshire Jets
With 8 of our U18s having been involved in either or both of our Senior Women's week-end successes, Mystics' U18 fixture against the unbeaten Cheshire Jets could easily turned out to be an anti- (or uncle) climax, with fatigue (despite a huge intake of Skittles) also a possible factor. Not a bit of it! The girls were as much up for this as a fat bloke in a baker's who has been given 20 minutes to eat as many cream cakes as he can free of charge! Cheshire have some gifted players and have made a very good start to the season but found it as difficult as trying to strike a match on jelly to get anything from the game. Mystics gave them neither the time nor the space to show off their skills. Consequently, we sped out of the traps like a greyhound with its backside on fire to an 18-1 lead by the end of the first quarter and 10 minutes later found ourselves 42-3 ahead.
With all that had gone on, the pace and intensity, understandably, dipped a tad in the second half but the 81-16 victory was as comprehensive as if Phil Taylor had played Stevie Wonder at darts! Once again, our defence was at the root of our success. Cat Meakin, Ashley Tensel and Megan Collins, in turn, snuffed out the considerable threat of Fred's sister,Claire Perry, as did Mollie Campbell with the ever-improving Zoe Ball, sorry, Brunton. Lucy Rogan, Leah McDerment, Megan Collins and Danni Johnson saw to it that the Cheshire guards could only manufacture 3 assists in total and all 10 Mystics, notably Katie Rowlands, Nat Feurtado, Cath Stansfield and Lucy Rogan, dominated the boards throughout. The Cheshire shooters (sounds like a rifle club!) were put under such pressure that they actually missed 49 of the 56 shots they took. (You won't win any coconuts at a fairground with shooting like that!)
Our shooting against 40 minutes of zone was far more assured with Leah hitting a hugely impressive 8 from 10, including 3 out of 4 three pointers. Megan did not miss at all (but, like William Tell, she only took 1 shot!). Ashley pitched in with a game high 8 steals and Nat scored the fastest coast to coast basket I've ever seen. She was no more than 1 of the members of a well-known pop group - a blur - when she whizzed past the bench having stolen the ball at one end and laid it up at the other before I could say 'wow.' Coincidentally, 'wow' also admirably sums up this display which capped a great week-end. (Even Arsenal won!)
2 November 2011
Manchester Mystics 61 - 60 Leeds Carnegie
1 November 2011
Mystics 73 - 27 Mansfield Giants
26 October 2011
Mystics 75 - 48 Newcastle
20 October 2011
Senior Mystics v Sheffield Hatters
18 October 2011
U18 Mystics and Senior Mystics in weekend home games (15/16 October)
Jim. 18/10/11.
10 October 2011
Senior Mystics Friendly game v Leeds Carnegie
Despite talking about it, we made our customary slow start and, as a consequence of some needless turnovers and easy misses, found ourselves trailing 1-8 before settling down and proving beyond doubt that we genuinely can hold our own at the top flight. In the two previous friendlies versus Northumbria and Loughborough, we lost the opening 5 minutes, only to wake up and win the following 35. We wanted to guard against a repeat but couldn't and the same thing happened for a third time. (Slow learners!) Before our next game, I intend to throw buckets of iced water over our 5 starters to avoid 4 in a row!
On this occasion, we took less time to get into our stride and our talented guards, Jamie Curtis, Jade Lucas, Leah McDerment and Ashley Tensel soon found ways to get the ball inside to our talented forwards, Nicki Blakeway, Charlene Ward and Mollie Campbell. By the end of the period, we had trimmed the deficit to 1 at 13-14, in spite of 8 points from the extremely talented Lithuanian G.Loxsyte. (Or was it Lockedout?) The opening minutes of the second quarter saw the 5 Mystics on the floor - Jamie, Leah, Tracey Caton, Nicki and Charlene - put together a period of focused basketball which was probably our best so far this season. With Jamie and Tracey giving the Leeds guards a hard time, Leah doing an amazing job on Lightsout, sorry, Loxsyte and Nicki and Charlene standing strong at post, we embarked upon a scintillating 10-2 run to forge ahead 23-16. With slightly more care at the free-throw line, the lead could have been in double figures but we were undeniably very much in control. Our dominance was only halted by a freak 3 point 24 second shot clock buzzer-beating brick which was speculatively heaved in the general direction of the back wall and which crashed fortuitously through the ring, having almost put a hole in the backboard en route. (I trust that I have been able to convince everyone that it really was very lucky!). This, and a sloppy finish to the quarter, brought about by me making too many changes in order to try to give all 11 Mystics some court time, ate into our lead to make it a 2 point game by half-time at 31-29. Against 1st Division opposition, this constituted a major achievement.
The third stanza, to Mystics' credit, for the most part, proved to be very even as the teams swapped baskets (as you do after half-time!) Leeds were doing a fine job in nullifying the considerable inside threat of Nicki Blakeway by triple teaming her whenever she received the ball in the key. Unfortunately, we failed to adapt to this and were unable to re-establish our superiority even though our team defence remained superb. Lightning isn't supposed to strike twice but the turning point came via a second desperate guided missile 23.9 seconds into the 24 second shot clock to punish a terrific defensive sequence from Mystics. This, like its predecessor, shook the backboard to within an inch of its life before bullying its way through the hoop to give Carnegie a 1 point advantage, 37-38. Undeterred, 2 nice inside moves by the ever-improving Mollie Campbell from feeds by the ever-energetic Jade Lucas left it with all to play for going into the fourth at 43-45.
Defensively, we held firm, with Emma Macready working tirelessly, but our offensive play was too static. We also turned the ball over too often on the press and took too long to set the ball up. Only Jade and Mollie seemed prepared to take the game to the opposition with any real conviction but our defensive intensity and our determination meant that we were still in with a chance of causing a major upset at 51-55 with 2 minutes remaining. Leeds also defended doggedly and the time came when we were obliged to foul to stop the clock. They made us pay with 4 from 6 free throws to finish victorious 53-59. One 3 point brick each would have given us a 56-53 win but we don't practise those shots, as Leeds must do! Nevertheless, it was another most encouraging performance from all concerned. My only regret is that I was unable to give all 11 Mystics as much court time as I , and they, would have liked. Our u18 team members, Mollie Campbell, Leah McDerment, Ashley Tensel, Lucy Rogan and Megan Collins again showed that they continue to grow in stature and are unfazed when up against some of the best senior women players from home and abroad currently competing in this country, proving, with or without fake tans that, 'the future is bright, the future is orange!'
Our more experienced performers, Nicki, Jamie, Jade, Charlene, Emma and Tracey showed that they have all the attributes necessary to make this season a successful one and, hopefully, will take us on to bigger and better things. Well played ladies!
Thanks to all for their help and support. Our next games are on Sunday 16 October when our U18s are at home to newcomers Sporting Albion (who, with a name like that, are bound to be a dirty side!), followed by the Senior Women at home to Bury at 5.30. I have also just arranged a prestigious home friendly for the Seniors for Tuesday 18 October at 8.15 against Division 1 stalwarts, Sheffield Hatters. They requested the game because the word going around is that Mystics can give anyone a game, and they want to play a good side before their first league game!
Jim 10/10/11
4 October 2011
Senior Mystics Friendly games
The significance of these wise words will soon become apparent to anyone who hasn't yet dozed off reading this tripe. When I arranged 2 friendlies for Sunday 2 October against Division 1 stalwarts, Northumbria and potential Division 1 hot shots, Loughborough, I did so in the knowledge that both teams would stretch us to the limit. Both recruit from far and wide (as opposed to just Stockport), and both were certain to be more experienced and physically stronger and bigger than Mystics very young 'Senior Women's' side. None of this concerned me in the slightest because we need tough games in order to develop and we were sure to gain enormous experience from the occasion. Basketball doesn't build character but it does reveal it and this Mystics squad has character in abundance.
In the event, the 2 games followed very similar scripts and proved invaluable in spite of 2 narrow losses. Team spirit remained up-beat in both, we were disciplined and team and individual performances grew after shaky starts each time. Northumbria can always be relied upon to be a high-scoring outfit who prefer to put more effort into scoring than defending. They came with a vastly experienced side, containing 2 Americans and a Spaniard. Physically, they made our girls look frail and dainty by comparison. This can sometimes be a good thing but probably isn't when a ball is involved! We quickly discovered that several of them could also shoot the lights out!
All this gave them an initial psychological advantage and manifested itself in a disastrous opening for a hesitant Mystics starting 5. We looked out of our depth at 2-15 - the score, not the time - mid-way through the first quarter. If you aspire to be a winner, you must have confidence in your own ability and determination to fight through rough patches. Otherwise, you cannot act decisively. I reminded our (young) ladies that we had sufficient talent within our ranks not to fear any opponents and that if we regained our usual poise and believed in ourselves so that we became less tentative, we would be able to make a comeback.
Their response was heart-warming. Everyone upped their defensive intensity so that we now put far more pressure on Northumbria's sharpshooters. We took more care of the ball by not rushing our passes and were less static on offense. As a result, we went on a 19-14 run to reduce the deficit to 21-29 after 10 minutes, with Mollie Campbell in inspiring form. At this juncture, we were still on course to concede a staggering 116 points, despite the improvements. I stressed that this must not be allowed to happen! We needed to curb their 3 point threat (4 made already), find a way, other than using gob-stoppers, to quieten their Americans, Clark and Carr, who had been running the show and overcome the fact that whoever our more slightly built guards - Jamie Curtis, Jade Lucas, Megan Collins and Tracey Caton - were marking, there was inevitably a huge mismatch in brute strength.
I juggled with the match-ups going into the second period and detailed Ashley Tensel to look after the powerful Clark, who had scored 13 points in the first. Ashley did such a good job, aided by great help defence from the likes of Nicki Blakeway and Jamie Curtis, that her adversary went scoreless in the entire quarter. Unfortunately, Carr did move up a gear(!) to score 8 and some careless turnovers assisted Northumbria in extending their lead by half-time to 14. I did not mind this too much because I had consciously run the bench in order to give every player valuable court time. Tracey Caton responded with 2 three pointers while Jade Lucas and Megan Collins gave us plenty of energy which would, hopefully, set the tone after the break.
Pleasingly, the mood during the interval was very positive. Nicki Blakeway raised spirits and her team-mates were made aware that everyone was playing hard and that we were now competing well against a, theoretically, superior team but also realised that we were committing too many unforced errors. We had been turning the ball over by telegraphing our passes and due to a liking for persisting in attempting to lob the ball into the 5ft 9 Nicki Blakeway even though she was squashed between two 6 footers! If we could take more care of the ball, we could certainly chip away at the deficit and prove to ourselves that we had the quality to compete at this level.
3 October 2011
U18 Manchester Mystics 87 - 18 Hatfield Flyers
Hatfield Fliers flew into the Amaechi Basketball Centre last Saturday to face Mystics U18s but, although they tried valiantly, they didn't ever really take off. Despite being understrength due to sick notes from a hobbling Nat Feurtado, a limping Cat Meakin, a coughing Cath Stansfield and a not-well-at-all Mel Golaub, the locals put together a powerful display of efficient basketball throughout a one-sided affair. From the outset, we had little trouble creating openings but, initially, were as wasteful as those who don't recycle their waste! Even so, we entered the second quarter 19-5 to the good, with 6 different scorers already on the sheet.
Over the next 10 minutes, our performance became far more clinical, prompting various enthusiastic team members to label some of what they witnessed from the bench as 'terrific.' Leading 40-8 at half-time, we had to guard against becoming sloppy and do so very professionally. (It's amazing how effective the promise of a packet of wine gums each can be!) As it turned out, the girls saved their best basketball of the afternoon for the third period, running in 26 points by way of some accurate mid-range shooting and some delightful inside moves,prompted by a selection of pin-point passes.
The fourth quarter mirrored the preceding ones and the end result of 88-18 gave Mystics their second straight win. Statistically, the highlights were the 8 assists from the typically unselfish Lucy Rogan, the 5 steals from the quickest draw in the west Ashley Tensel,
The 13 rebounds from the long-armed Mollie Campbell and the fact that Mollie and Ashley, accompanied by Hannah Alty, Katie Rowlands, Dannie Johnson, Leah McDerment and Megan Collins all shot at 50% or better on their way to double figures. Saira Hillyard's efficiency rating was also positive and to demonstrate the wonderful team spirit within the group, the captain, 'Delia' Rogan whipped up a cake for the birthday girl, Megan Collins who almost had an asthma attack trying to blow out all the candles in one go!
Next up for the 18s is Sporting Albion on 15 October. If they live up to their name, we should get all of the 50-50 calls. (' No ref. she didn't foul me. I fouled her.')
Thanks to all for their support and assistance.
27 September 2011
Mystics U18 Tournament
26 September 2011
Mystics Tournament
It soon became obvious that we needed to stop Edinburgh's guard, S. O'Brien and colourful centre, H. Peacock who had scored every one of the 19 points their side managed in the first half. Our crisp ball movement had enabled us to change round 10 points to the good, with 8 Mystics already on the scoresheet. The fact that O'Brien and Peacock were only half as successful in the second half is a credit to the defensive capabilities of our ladies, (including debutant Megan Collins, Tracey Caton and Ashley Tensel), all of whom at some stage of the half matched up with one or the other of them. Despite this, Edinburgh did shade the third quarter 11-12, during which they made the most of their height advantage. (It's a well-known fact that haggis induces growth spurts!) We also suffered by being too static on offense and needed to be more dynamic generally. (I've seen milk turn quicker!)
The players responded positively going into the fourth quarter and Mollie Campbell and Nicki Blakeway finished well in the paint, principally off of assists from Jamie Curtis, Leah McDerment, Emma Macready and Jade Lucas. This enabled us to extend our lead to a very comfortable 21 at 60-39 by the final whistle, leaving us in a good state of mind for our next game of the day against Clark Eriksson Fury from Falkirk. Like us (and I'm sure they did!), Falkirk are a youngish, smallish, quickish (Scottish), side and an up-tempo game was on the cards. It turned out to be the case but Mystics proved to be physically stronger and defensively significantly tighter than our opponents who were restricted to mainly trying their luck from distance (just as I was when trying to get a girl friend as a teenager!) A first-class team performance from the outset meant that we were very much in the ascendancy at 20-8 by the end of the first quarter and 35-19 up by half time.
Things weren't really any different after the break and we eventually went on to record a second, largely untroubled, victory 75-47, with Nicki Blakeway, Jamie Curtis, Jade Lucas and Leah McDerment scoring the bulk of our points in a game played, as the previous one was, in excellent spirit.
Due to the, literally, twelfth hour cry-off by our (formerly!) Welsh friends from UWIC, we kicked off Sunday's procedings by playing Falkirk again but this time we were, in theory, weakened by the absence of 2 key players in Nicki Blakeway and Jade Lucas. I informed the team that everyone needed to try to step up (even though they had all played extremely well the day before) in an attempt to make up for the combined 30 points the 2 absentees had recorded then against this opposition.They did.The margin of victory this time was actually even greater at 72-28 with Mystics playing some irresistible basketball, inspired by stand-in captain Emma Macready who led all scorers, closely followed by Charlene Ward and Leah McDerment, with Jamie Curtis and Mollie Campbell not far behind. Defensively, we were excellent, with particularly tigerish displays from Lucy Rogan, Megan Collins, Ashley Tensel and Tracey Caton.
Our final opponents were Polonia Phoenix, also from Edinburgh, who, like Mystics,had won all 3 of their previous games and who came with the reputation of being quite a physical outfit.This description is as much of an understatement as saying that Manchester City are 'quite well-off' or Astro Physics is 'quite difficult' to understand. What transpired had elements of the battle scenes from 'Brave Heart!' Tracey Caton's participation came to a premature end when a fierce double blow to the jaw ensured that there is no point in her buying any chewing gum for a while! Leah McDerment came away from the contest almost needing a blood transfusion following a long-nailed opponent's attempt to give her a skin graft! That aside, the game itself was a thoroughly exciting affair with both sides giving their all throughout.
Polonia used their distinct height advantage effectively during the first half and we had great difficulty countering the threat posed by their experienced centres, J. Ritchie and K.Jackson who posted up in the key and set big screens for their impressive 3 point shooter, A.Mitchell. Without the height of our biggest player, Charlene Ward, who had damaged her finger again, and the strength and court savvy of Jade Lucas, as well as the fearlessness of the unavailable Lucy Rogan, we were now down to 8 players, 3 of whom were taking part in their sixth full game in 2 days! (Mollie Campbell, Leah McDerment and Ashley Tensel had also played 2 games for our u18s.) Thankfully, Megan Collins was as fresh as a (dead) daisy since she had only managed 5 (in spite of having been ill all week!) How those 4 had the energy and commitment to perform so well and exert the full-on effort that they did was nothing short of extraordinary.
A very even first quarter was shaded by the visitors 15-17, with Jamie Curtis and Nicki Blakeway, both of whom were outstanding, our main offensive weapons and our unerring free throw shooting keeping us in touch. Polonia increased their lead to 13 at 17-30 and were now in control. During a time-out, I then had to ignore the fact that the majority of our team were virtually exhausted and asked them to put on a press and to ignore the easier option of taking early shots. I urged them to drive at the big Polonia forwards to either draw fouls or utilise our superior foot speed. The team's sound execution of both helped reduce the defecit to 5 at 28-33 by half-time so that we finished on a relative high.
I saw no need to change these tactics in the third quarter and a significant change in the state of the game resulted. We won the quarter by 8 to go ahead by 3 with some outstanding team play at both ends of the court. Not wanting to be too predictable, we started the fourth by getting back on defence as quickly as tired legs could manage and defending from the 3 point line to give Polonia a different look. They were unable to respond to any great effect and Mystics' amazing durability and resolve enabled them to double our advantage to 6 at 68-62 by the final whistle against a team who are favourites to win this season's Premier League title.
Many thanks to Tony, Freda and Mark who helped set up and run this tournament, to the 2 Pauls for clearing up, to all those who officiated and especially to Aline whose contribution was as immense as the effort put in by the players.
The Seniors are next in action on Sunday 2 October with a home friendly against Division 1 giants, Northumbria at 1.00pm and another at 5.00pm versus Loughborough . Support welcome.
Jim.26/9/11
20 September 2011
Mystics News
