Crusaders go marching on

Basketball Sea angling

Canterbury Crusaders continued their East Kent Basketball League winning streak by beating the University of Kent’s second string by 28 points.

UKC opened the scoring but it was the only time they held the lead as Crusaders immediately hit back via Takako Watters.

Watters went on to score half the Crusaders’ first quarter points while at the other end of the court, UKC were shut out entirely and Crusaders went in 16-2 up.

The second quarter saw the introduction of Crusaders’ Danielle Muckian, who had been out all season with injury.

She made an immediate impact, cancelling out UKC’S back-to-back baskets and then set up Lisa Martin who drained a shot from the wing before Emma Boyce ran in two lay-ups on the fast break to give Crusaders a 28-12 half-time lead.

The second half saw Muckian and Watters leading the offence and with Benita Palmer knocking down short-range shots from the top of the key, Crusaders went on to take a 38-17 lead.

In defence, Crusaders had to battle under the boards and were put under big pressure by the impressive Celia Fagerstrom who put back her rebounds to keep UKC in touch. However, Muckian drained a buzzer-beater at the end of the third to keep Crusaders 22 points ahead at 41-19.

Fagerstrom opened the scoring for UKC as the final quarter got under way but they were unable to stem the Crusaders tide as they continued to stack up the points.

Effy Panayiotou finally showed her potential in offence scoring three quick baskets to make it 57-26.

Sophia Koch, who led UKC’S scoring with 11 points, hit back but it was never going to be enough and Watters scored the final basket for a 59-31 Crusaders win. Crusaders: E Panayiotou (9), M Grudina, E Loane (8), S Hood, B Palmer (4), D Muckian (19), L Thomas, L Martin (4), S Moseley, L Vilne, T Watters (15).

Crusaders’ next game is at Canterbury College Sports Centre, against Christ Church University tonight (Thursday, 8.45pm). All spectators welcome. Dave Morris claimed his first beach trophy despite an unusually low tide meaning the start of the Heron’s Maureen Cup beach competition was delayed for most of the 12 anglers that took part. Thankfully, the southerly wind made the water calm and the rain did little more than drizzle throughout and it was Morris, fishing from Neptune Arm, who found the fish. He caught 32 whiting and a dab for a total of 33 fish weighing 13lb 10.8oz. All competitors weighed in fish, mainly consisting of whiting, with a single dogfish for Tony Morris who came second, fishing Lane End, with 24 fish weighing 10lb 14.4oz. Ben Morris was third with 26 fish weighing 10lb 2.4oz. The Perry-french twins had a dab each with Lewis also landing a flounder. Also on the beach, the annual inter-club match saw Herne Bay Angling Association, Greenhill and Whitstable Angling Clubs fishing for the Paternoster Trophy. Herne Bay retained the trophy in grand style with 49lb of fish. Results were taken from the top five competitors of each club. Bay chairman Michael Chalk fished Neptune Arm and took the top individual honours with 12lb followed by fellow club member Dave Andrews in second place with 10lb 2oz. Michael Ellis, fishing at the 100 steps, came third with 7lb 6oz. Whitstable were second with 22lb of fish and Greenhill third with 6lb. The Herne Bay Angling Association’s November Boat Trophy had to be cancelled on Sunday due to strong northerly winds. This weekend the Herne Bay club are holding their two-day Beach Festival. Entry forms are available at the club or can be downloaded from www. hernebayangling.co.uk