Friday Night Lights - News - Wandsworth School Games

Friday Night Lights

Wandsworth Basketball finals on 10th December proved the perfect conclusion to the first ever School Basketball league in the borough.

Southfields Community College and Battersea Park School fought it out to be U14 Champions and Graveney and Battersea Park battled to become U16 Champions. 

Held at Battersea Sports Centre, the crowds spilled in, the officials were aplenty, and the teams meant business!  First up was the U14 final and it proved to be a fight until the end.  Southfields and Battersea Park put their first scores on the board within seconds of each other and the first quarter ended 10 - 10.  Battersea Park got into the zone in the second quarter adding another 10 points to their score, Southfields replying with only 5.  A no nonsense half time talk from Mr Mensah and Ben got the Southfields team back on track and they fought back to a 24 – 24 score at the end of the third.  Battersea Park’s patience and determination served them well in the final quarter, with consistent scoring the game ended 28 – 33 to Battersea Park.

Having seen Battersea Park crowned U14 Champions, Graveney knew they had to bring their A game to Battersea Park.  The first quarter saw exactly that, end to end play but with little conversion into points.  Graveney took a 4 – 2 lead into the second quarter.  Both teams livened up in the second quarter, the scores evening up to 12 – 12.  Sarah clearly gave an inspiring team talk at half time as Battersea Park scored 7 points in the third quarter with no reply from Graveney.  A three pointer from Battersea not long after the restart put them 10 points ahead but some tactical fouls by Battersea gave Graveney the chance to put them back in the game.  On this occasion the pressure was too much and the match finished 15 – 24 to Battersea Park.  An U16 Champions title to add to the U14 title won earlier in the evening.

Both games were played in great spirit with a lot of talent on show, testament to the tireless work of resident Miss Basketball Sarah McDermott and her work in our Wandsworth schools.  The SSP team couldn’t do without Sarah, and are very grateful for her continued hard work. 

Battersea Park were on a high, not only being crowned Wandsworth Basketball Champions for both age groups, but both teams now progress to the Central London Basketball finals in the New Year.  Good luck to both teams.

Thank you to Frank and Tony for their no nonsense and professional refereeing and thanks to the SSP team, particularly Ashley Montgomery, and our Competition Manager Paul Williams, for all their efforts to raise the standard of Basketball competitions in the borough.

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