Unbeaten run ends as St Mirren senior women are outpaced by champs

St Mirren West College Scotland Senior Women came up just short as they faced league champions City of Edinburgh Kool Kats in a tough away fixture.

The only time the two sides had previously met, was in an uncompromising Scottish Cup quarter-final where Saints took the honours.

The game started slowly with both teams struggling to score, before Kats edged ahead by four points.

The Paisley team came back to make it all square, as both teams kept up a fast pace, as they attempted to find weaknesses in each other’s defence.

The home team soon established a 10-4 lead, before a couple of late baskets from Fiona Harris and Anna Mitchell reduced the deficit to 10-8.

However, Kats still had something in the locker and scored late baskets at the end of the first quarter, to lead 16-8.

Edinburgh started the next period in a determined fashion, and the Saints defence was hard pressed to keep them out.

A few misplaced passes and turnovers took their toll as Kool Kats stormed to a 21-10 lead, with Saints struggling to find an answer.

With Kats captain Emma Findlay pulling the strings, St Mirren struggled to keep in the game.

The Edinburgh side’s high pressing, high tempo game meant that St Mirren struggled throughout, finishing the half 33-16 down.

Saints started the third Quarter brightly with three-pointers from Harris and Cleary, but Kool Kats continued to press.

Further defensive mistakes proved costly as the foul count rose, and Kats took advantage with a string of successful free throws to take control. However, Saints rallied towards the end of the quarter to win the quarter 15-16, leaving Edinburgh 48-32 up at the break.

Both teams ran their bench in the closing quarter, as the fast pace of the game took its toll. Each team tried to make further breakthroughs, but their was little between the teams, as the clock ticked down.

St Mirren tried to get behind the Kats defence, but the league champion’s vast experience was simply too much.

The damage done in the early stages was simply too much to overcome, and Edinburgh ran out comfortable 61-46 winners, with Saints finally losing their unbeaten league record in the closing stages of a promising season.

Saints’top scorer was captain Rebecca Cleary on 20 points, with Nicole Davidson grabbing a handy nine points, despite a late hand injury.