Juniors Through To Play-Offs - Cadettes Lose First Leg

The weekend started well with the Juniors beating their nearest rivals on Friday night to win Group 3 with a match left and so qualify for the Play-offs, where they will play the second-placed team in Group 1. Disappointment followed hours later as the Cadettes lost the first leg of the Quarter-finals in Jerez by a sizeable margin which will be difficult to overturn, although not impossible.

FULL RESULTS

JUNIORS: GABBA 67 (Marco O’Connor 20, Javi Felice 17, Javi Andrews 11) - Sancti Petri 57 [24-14; 19-17; 11-11; 13-15].
Three 3 pointers from Javi Felice in the first 5 minutes of this crucial contest gave GABBA the perfect start, which earned them the 10 points’ advantage at the end of the first quarter, that was to be the eventual winning margin. Although 36-23 up midway through the second quarter, GABBA had to dig deep to counter the physicality and fighting spirit of their opponents. Marco O’Connor’s leadership and 8 points in the second quarter, and Felice’s height superiority in defence, grabbing numerous rebounds and blocking shots, contributed in a big way to the 43-31 half-time lead.
O’Connor added 7 more points in a low-scoring third quarter and alarm bells rang with 5 minutes to the end of the match as the visitors narrowed GABBA’s lead to 5 points. Felice had the last say, however, sinking a huge 3 just over a minute from time to clinch the match.

CADETS: Vejer 31 - GABBA 54 (Shae Felice 16, Ben Lejeune 14, Jake Canepa 10) [8-19; 7-11; 6-12; 10-12].
A comfortable win against weak opposition, crafted on the back of an explosive 12-0 start in under 4 minutes, and in which every one of the 10 players who made the trip to this attractive town up on a hill contributed.

CADETTES: Xerez 63 - GABBA 49 (Erin Doherty 14, Tasnim El Yettefti 13, Chloe Balban 10) [19-13; 7-15; 22-10; 15-11].
Having lost just one of their 12 matches in the first phase of this competition, and that with a depleted team, GABBA travelled to Jerez with high hopes of getting a good result against the third-placed team from Group B, to leave them in a good position looking ahead to the second leg at home. A below par start saw them trail 4-13 midway through the first quarter, but a timely reaction narrowed the deficit to 13-19 at the end of the quarter. An 11-0 run in the first half of the second quarter put GABBA 24-19 ahead, a lead which they held up to half-time, albeit reduced to 28-26. Their hopes were dashed as Xerez hit a 14-2 blitz to go 40-30 up after 5 minutes of the third quarter. A brief reaction halved the difference to 42-37 but it was still 10 points (48-38) as the fourth quarter started. The host’s lead increased to 58-42 but GABBA brought it down to 58-49 with 2 minutes left, but 5 more points, including the eighth 3-pointer from the local sharpshooters, established the 14 points’ advantage which leaves GABBA in a difficult situation, ahead of the return leg, to be played on a date to be announced in the next fortnight.

PASSERELLE GIRLS: GABBA 69 (Chloe Balban 14, Erin Doherty 14, Lily Mauro 12, Briella Bagu 12) - Puerto Real 25 [14-0; 22-8; 12-8; 21-9].
This match was a master class of bench rotation by coach Andrew Teuma, as he gave his 12 players pretty much equal court time, not an easy task. It was a comfortable win against a weaker team who, nevertheless, showed that they are being properly taught the fundamental skills of basketball, something which our girls are likewise being exposed to.