18.10.2008 Leicester Blaze 74 – 36 Warriors U16’s

The Cadets travelled to Leicester Blaze on Saturday for arguably their toughest game of the season. Leicester finished near the top of the table playing in the U16’s league last year, so from the start the team realised they were up against it. Despite this the young Warriors were up for the game and had hopes of registering their first win of the year.

The Warriors raced into a the lead with a 3 pointer from Ricky B (8 points, 2 steals) but their joy was short lived as it would be their only lead of the day. The warriors struggled to break down the very well drilled and physical Leicester side, finding it very difficult to get into their offence. Good finishing from the Leicester team allowed them to open up a big gap at the end of the 1st to lead 19 – 8. Unfortunately the inexperienced warriors had no real response to the warriors press defence and again struggled in the 2nd quarter. Despite Ben C (8 points, 8 rebounds) efforts the side regularly turned the ball over and warriors went into the break trailing by 20 points at 34 – 14.

The Warriors had a long chat in the changing rooms and decided to come out for the second half fighting. They stepped up their defence and started to take better care of the ball on the offensive end. Great work rate from John B (4 points, 8 rebounds) and Jay H (6 points, 8 rebounds) allowed the score to be much closer. The warriors still lost the quarter 16 – 12, but the warriors should take heart in the way they responded.

Disappointingly the final quarter continued in much the same vain. The Warriors turned the ball over under heavy pressure from the blaze. A mixture of poor passing and poor decision making allowed Leicester to score 22 points in the final quarter. The warriors could only respond with a further 10 so the final score was 72 – 36.

Overall it was a tough lesson for the new cadets but over the course of the game they continued to battle away as if the score was level. The team know realise how hard they will have to work to get to the sort of level Leicester are playing at. Next week the Warriors finally have a home game against Sandwell and they are eager to bounce back with a victory.

 

Match Report: Alex Robinson

Photo: Carsten Dieterich