Match report:

A strong win for M1 last Wednesday against Aberdeen University. Both teams had started slowly with plenty of missed baskets. Aberdeen had success inside the paint whereas Edinburgh found their points from mid range. The score by the end of the first quarter was 19-19.With Aberdeen still successfully finding points we switched to a full court press, with many turnovers from Aberdeen, M1 managed to finish the half with a 12 point lead. Aberdeen came out with high intensity in order to make up the gap. M1 switched back to 3-2 defensive zone, with defensive rotations failing Aberdeen almost caught up. Edinburgh was up by 4 by the end of the 3rd quarter. With the tight score both teams tried to push their scores. The high intensity lead to many fouls, but Edinburgh managed to keep the lead by ~2-6 points. In the final minute Edinburgh were leading by 4 points but with successful shooting from Aberdeen the game tuned into a past pace race to score. Edinburgh won 67-64.

A must win game vs St. Andrews for W1 last Wednesday. W1 had beaten them before by a margin of 50 so they were expected to win but nevertheless they needed to make sure to get the position in the rankings they were are aiming for. As most of the players have a lot of big games coming up and many hours of traveling W1 needed to manage them well. A couple of minor injuries made W1 sit out a few players so they started the game with 7 players. After a slow start from missing the first few opportunities, W1 started to really push the ball in transition and shared it really well. Solid man to man defence made St. Andrews take difficult shot under pressure from the shot clock that they then rebounded and most of the time turned into a made basket for them within 4 seconds. St. Andrews executed their plays very well, credit to the coach but most of the time, they were not capable of getting a good look at the basket. After 5-28 it was 7-60 at half time. 10-90 after 3 quarters and finally 17-113. Top scoring were Dori Lansbach with 30, Natalie Bastian with 24, Beth Mackie 19, Tricia Oakes 18, Sarah Thomson 15. Next week the final game of the competition versus Newcastle for the 4th spot in the rankings.

Men’s 2nds pick up where they left off last semester with another win, beating a strong St Andrews side 68-53 away from home. Yet again the Edinburgh side benefited from their strong depth with all 12 players making meaningful contributions on the court. First year Edward Agboraw continues to impress, scoring a game high 20 points while also leading the game in rebounds and blocks with his relentless effort. The team now prepares the host Edinburgh Napier at home in two weeks time in what should be a competitive match as the team looks to remain at the top of their league.

Good win for the W2s away against Aberdeen 1sts this Wednesday. The W2s started strong getting ahead to a 6-2 lead but a number of poor passes and turnovers kept Aberdeen in the game, with only 1 point down by half time. The girls refocused and started to pull away in the 3rd quarter with stronger defence and a more cohesive offence. Aberdeen struggled to score against our full court press and their switch to a zone gave us easy 3 point shots from the whole team. The final score was 29-54 to Edinburgh. Top scorer was Cara Targett-Ness with 15 points. Next week, the girls will take on Dundee University in CSE at 1.20pm.