Knights overcome the Fury to retain trophy
Thrilling display from Stirling’s U16 girls at Heriot Watt
Stirling Knights retained the Under 16 Girls Scottish Cup in a thrilling 61-55 win over neighbours and rivals Falkirk Fury on Sunday at The Oriam.
The National Performance Centre at Heriot-Watt University played host to the teams who had claimed league victories over each other earlier this season but this time it was the Knights who were to come out on top.
The game opened with some scrappy play between the sides with nerves clearly on display and this led to a number of travels and turnovers early on.
Both sides settled down as the first quarter went on and began to find their scoring touch. Stirling had the advantage early on thanks to nine early points from Chloe Dunsire to give her side a 13-6 lead but Fury improved in the final minutes at the first break, it was 14- 11 in favour of Stirling.
Scores remained tight in the second quarter as both teams were fighting hard to get their first silverware of the season. Halfway through the quarter, Knights held a four-point lead, when a pivotal moment in the match-up occurred when Fury captain Mairi McGill picked up her fourth foul with five minutes still to play in the first half.
This appeared to motivate her team however as they came back and took the lead in her absence with Falkirk’s Rachel Penman the catalyst for Fury as the half-time buzzer sounded. Fury held a slender lead 30-28.
A positive team talk from coach Cory McCabe saw the Stirling girls settle back down in the second half but the action was still neck and neck with neither team gaining any significant advantage.
Knights regained the lead with four minutes remaining in the period and slowly built up momentum to go into the final quarter leading 43-38.
There was nothing to separate the teams in the final quarter and with five minutes left, the score was 50-49 in favour of the Stirling club. Tension was in the air and with just two minutes remaining, Nina Wills battled her way to give the Knights team a three-point lead. After a Knights free-throw, the score was 57-53 then Katrina Kirsop scored a graceful lay-up to extend the Knights lead to six.
Despite valiant efforts from Fury they weren’t able to get any more points on the board and as the final buzzer sounded, Stirling Knights had won 61-55 - and were U16 Women Scottish Cup Champions for a second year running.
Most Valuable Player award went to Knights star Katrina Kirsop with 20 points and a whopping 27 rebounds. Chloe Dunsire also had a fantastic game with the impressive stat line of 16 points, nine rebounds, six blocks, four assists and eight fouls drawn.
Nina Wills chipped in 16 points and eight rebounds in what was a solid team performance with U14 age player Emma Dunsire impressing from the bench. Fury’s Rachel Penman scored 31 points in a great display to keep her team in the game throughout.
Head coach Cory McCabe said: “Absolutely ecstatic for the girls and the club defending their Scottish Cup title from last year. It was a battle. It ended up not being a game of skill but more a case of mental toughness and resolve.
“To see the joy and happiness and the relief in their faces at the end makes it all the more sweeter, I guess that is why we coach.”