Under 14 girls strike first in Semi-Finals

CB Prado 50- GABBA 59 (Erin Doherty 23, Briella Bagu 20) [8-16; 13-13; 8-17; 21-13].

GABBA’s under 14 girls overcame an exhausting two-and-a-half hours road trip to the picturesque town of Prado del Rey, straight after school last Friday, to inflict the first defeat of the season on Prado, winners of Group B, in the first leg of the competition’s semi-final.

A solid start saw GABBA go 8 points up in the first quarter and hold this lead at half-time, as Prado fought hard to stay in the contest. Always in control, the lead stretched gradually, reaching 19 points just before the end of the third quarter and 17 with 5 minutes to play, but Prado outscored our girls by 13-5 in that time to reduce the lead to 9 in the end. Three 3 -pointers in the last 2 minutes, and GABBA’s difficulties against a zone defence, but, significantly, 11 out of 12 points missed (4/19 in the match) in that time, were the main factors in giving Prado hope for the return leg, to be played on Saturday at 12:00 noon on the new floor at the TSH.

A 9 points’ advantage is ok, but it’s not a winning lead, so the GABBA girls ask for maximum support from the public to carry them through to the final.