Highs And Lows Weekend for basketball youth

The headline accurately portrays GABBA’s participation in Cadiz League competitions on the first weekend of matches in 2026. A gutsy performance from the U16 girls in Conil was undoubtedly the highest of the highs, which included big wins at home by the U16 boys and the u14 girls, while the U14 boys missed their top scorer in their match in Jerez, but the lowest and most embarrassing low was registered by the U18 men, playing in exile in La Linea, against one of the teams that opted not to play here.

FULL RESULTS

U18 men, GABBA 66 (Javi Felice 16, Marco O’Connor 13, Lee Davis 11) - UB Jerez 70
[22-14, 21-10, 9-16, 14-30].
Excellent team defence, starting in a 4 minutes’ spell midway through the first quarter which produced a 14-0 run to put GABBA 20-7 up, paved the way to a 43-24 half-time lead. A comfortable lead but not a winning one as the team were about to discover, even though the lead had increased to 52-30 by the 5th minute of the third quarter. The opposition had shown signs of not collapsing and a 10-0 run started the rot. It was 52-40 at the start of the fourth quarter and GABBA were unable to stem the tide. Jerez drew level at 55-55 with 4 minutes left and romped ahead to a deserved win, showing the attitude and grit that wins matches, hitting 30 points in the last quarter, and badly denting GABBA’s chances of topping the group.

U16 boys, GABBA 74 (Ben Lejeune 15, Hai Tran 12, Jake Canepa 10) - Vejer 24
[25-7, 20-6, 21-11, 8-0].
Coach Tim Azopardi treated the weak opposition with respect, never setting press defences and giving all his players court time. These matches also have to be played, and the sizeable visiting group of parents appreciated the way their team were treated.

U16 girls, Mergablo Conil 44 - GABBA 52 (after overtime)(Erin Doherty 13)
[10-10, 12-9, 9-13, 11-10, 2-10]
Skipper Brylee Costa scored all her 7 points in overtime, a precious contribution which clinched victory in a hard-fought clash, with lots of lead changes. Conil’s largest lead was 5 points at the start of the second quarter while GABBA’s was the final 8 points. GABBA were the better team but made it difficult for themselves through missing 20 of 33 free-shots attempted, with Conil missing 6 from 10, but that was the only minus in an otherwise very satisfactory performance.

U14 boys, UB Jerez 50 - GABBA 38 (Nolan Romero 11) [13-14, 15-3, 10-18, 12-3]
This was an up and down contest, with GABBA very much up in the first and third quarters, and woefully down in the second and fourth. Their 12 points reversal in the second produced a catch-up situation which, had as they tried after half-time, was finally lost in the last 10 minutes. If only Ralph Falero Manktelow had played…….

U14 girls, GABBA 71 (Briella Bagu 23, Erin Doherty 14, Gabriella Lines 12) - ULB 36.
The young team from La Linea was no match for GABBA, with coach Andrew Teuma running his bench well.