FURY CADETTE WOMAN MAKE FINAL BUT JUST FALL SHORT OF TREBLE
Sony Centre Fury U16 Cadette Woman just fell short of a perfect season going down by 4 pts to Boroughmuir Blaze, their season rivals, in the Final 4 Play-Off Final.
After a tough semi-final that saw Fury defeat the Gladiators with a 56-46 score line the stage was set for yet another Fury - Blaze showdown. Fury went into the Final 4 week-end with key point guard Beth Snedden out after picking up an injury in training.
Snedden a key player for the Falkirk side was always going to be a big loss, but Fury dug in, in their semi-final against the Gladiators to get the 10pt win. Ahead by 2p pts at the end of the first period, Fury were behind at the half by 5pts. A strong second half and switch of defence gave Fury 19-10 and 14 -8 third and fourth quarters scores for the win and a place in the Final. Poppy Duncan stepped up in the Gladiators game with 20 pts personal with Rachel Dagger on 17 and Kyla Torrance on 10. Daisy Lawson produced a key performance at both ends of the floor with Jess Cram and Leila Gillespie playing big minutes. Off the bench Isla Jack and Emily Irvine also contributed to the win.
The Final saw both Fury and Blaze without their respective starting point guards and with Fury having taken the League title on Blaze's home court and also defeated the capital side in the Scottish Cup Final, the game was sure to be a contest that for different reasons both teams wanted to win.
While Fury took the opening 3 quarters with 15 -12 , 11 -9 and 13 -10 score lines for an 8pt lead going into the final quarter no one could have predicted Fury would score only 1pt in the 4th and fall to a 44-40 score line. Incredibly, the top two teams at U16 in the country could not score for 5 minutes and it was not until half-way through the 4th that the game suddenly turned after an unsportsmanlike foul on Fury's Scotland International Rachel Dagger, who was forced to leave the court. Off the bench Leila Gillespie stepped up to take the free throws, scoring the first but missing the second with Dagger unable to return to the game, now on the subs seats. That proved costly to Fury as Blaze, now 40-31 down, brought the game back to 5pts before Dagger's return. However the momentum stayed with Blaze as they ran out 44-40 winners. While the stats showed that Fury took an unbelievable 73 rebounds - 35 of these offensive rebounds, that simply showed the lack of execution by the Falkirk side. While disappointing not to win all 3 titles, Fury can take a great deal from a very strong season winning the Scottish Div 1 Championship and the Scottish Cup.
Top scorer for Fury in the Play-Off Final was the ever improving first year Cadette - Leila Gillespie with 12pts and 5 rebounds. Rachel Dagger had 10pts and a double -double with a massive 17 rebounds. Poppy Duncan almost matching that with another huge rebound haul of 17 with 8pts personal. Daisy Lawson was also in double digit rebounding with 12 and 5pts personal. Kyla Torrance had 5pts and 8 rebounds. Fury's Final team also saw Jess Cram, Ruby Hepburn and Emily Irvine on the floor with Hannah Johnson and Isla Jack on the bench.
