Juniors impress as they swamp Fury defence
St Mirren Junior Women faced their opening game of the season at The Lagoon as they took to the court against newly-amalgamated Knights Fury Central.
With several changes from last season, due to players graduating to the senior ranks and retirements, there were some fresh faces among the Saints squad.
However, the home side still started with a particularly strong five and had their visitors under extreme pressure from the tip-off with early lay-ups from Fiona Waddell and Maisie Huey.
Good hustle from Saints brought mistakes from the Knights Fury players, and St Mirren soon raced in to an 11-2 lead, with a spectacular three-pointer from Huey the pick of the play.
Iona Ross was relentless in midfield with several steals. She scored five baskets, powering Saints to a 26-4 lead at the end of the first quarter, with Jenny Hall’s buzzer-beating three-pointer bringing the crowd to their feet.
Knights Fury came out very aggressively at the start of the second quarter in an attempt to contain the home side and stop them increasing their already comfortable lead, which paid dividends as they notched up a couple of baskets.
However, a quick breakaway basket by the impressive Huey, followed by a couple from Ross, soon put St Mirren back in command.
Knights Fury coach Kim Bunyan was forced to call a time-out as her team struggled to contain the black and white tide that was swamping her defence.
On the restart, Waddell hit a sparkling three-pointer, before excellent inter-passing and quick play from Laura Collins gave the Buddies a healthy 32-12 lead at half-time.
Saints coach Leanne Renfrew began to give her younger players some court time, and this had an affect upon the tempo of the game as it slowed. Mistakes on both sides brought fouls, which resulted in a flurry of free throws that broke up the rhythm of the game, and resulted in Knights Fury’s Kerr exiting the game early on five fouls.
Saints began to settle again and a double from young cadette player Heather Ritchie set Saints on their way to a 57-20 lead at the end of the third quarter.
St Mirren started the final quarter with a young and inexperienced five who more than held their own, before the reintroduction of Ross with two three-pointers in succession, gave St Mirren a lead of 68-21 going in to the final few minutes.
As players tired towards the end of the game, fast breaks from the home side took their toll, and the home side ran out impressive winners with a final score of 75-28.
Top scorer was the impressive Ross on 31 points, with Huey on 17, and Hall contributing a handy 10 points. Special mention for young cadette Ritchie who made her first appearance for the juniors and grabbed an important six points.