Newham Youngblood’s under-16 girls’ team made the perfect start to the season with a narrow victory in a high-scoring home match against Kingston School of Basketball,

Newham Youngbloods 92

Kingston School

of Basketball 87

Newham Youngblood’s under-16 girls’ team made the perfect start to the season with a narrow victory in a high-scoring home match against Kingston School of Basketball, writes Simon Jackson.

Newham proved to be far superior in the first quarter as they raced to a 10 point lead and despite good work from the visitors maintained a slender advantage at the break.

Kingston refused to go down without a fight and scrapped hard to reduce the deficit as they clawed back points to briefly led in the third period.

Now it was Newham’s turn to show their character and the hosts, led by Camille Francis and Jemima Ababio, upped the tempo in the fourth quarter to secure a slender advantage which they maintained until the final whistle.

Newham Youngbloods 101

Hackney White Heat 46

Newham Youngbloods under-18 men’s team barely gave Hackney White Heat a look-in in their home match on Saturday as they racked up a ton to demolish their rivals.

The hosts were always in control and crafted a 27-11 lead before putting their foot on the race and pulling right away from their opponents, dominating play with steals, fast breaks and dunks.

Hackney continued to add to their tally, but ultimately proved to be no match for the home side who pushed on to score over 100 points.

Newham Youngbloods 74

Lewisham Thunder 66

Newham Youngbloods under-16 boys’ team was forced to work hard for their narrow victory in their derby match against visiting Lewisham Thunder at the weekend.

Youngbloods edged the first quarter by 21-14 but Lewisham refused to roll over and out-pointed the hosts in the second quarter, bagging 18 points to Newham’s 17.

The visitors kept up the good work in the third period, adding another 22 points to the home side’s 14 to take the lead going in to the decisive last quarter.

Youngblood’s coach Caroline Charles demanded an improvement at the break. Her intervention did the trick as the home side upped the tempo to reclaim the advantage and secure victory. Rodon Botor was the top scorer of the game.