Pumas close in on the title

Precisely one week after ending six-time champions Ravenscroft’s long winning run, they struck again with a 46-39 victory in last Friday night’s return match at St Sampson’s High.

The top two will not meet again this league campaign and the upshot is that Pumas are now firm favourites for the title.

But Ravens once again showed their credentials in their latest duel, keeping it neck-and-neck until they capitulated in the final quarter.

Both teams impressed defensively throughout but Ravens’ two Emmas, Hicks and Sykes, headed the scoring initially as their side worked to 17-13 at the quarter.

Pumas soon pushed ahead temporarily after some great contributions from Kerri Brown, though a late flourish from teenager Sykes gave Ravenscroft the most modest of half-time leads – 24-23.

The third quarter proved a dead heat at 12 points apiece as Katie Cochrane showed superbly for Ravens, while key Pumas threat Gemma Batiste found her feet in offence.

But the ending simply did not go Ravens’ way – they had only a solitary Hicks three-pointer to show for it – and Pumas capitalised on abundant free throws en route to dominating the period 11-3.

Pumas captain Batiste top-scored at 16 points, from Brown’s 12, and again praised her side’s ability to deal with the pressure of a tight game.

‘We are really pleased that we were able to get the win,’ she said after entering with several notable absences.

‘We knew that they would come out strong after last week and their defence made it really tricky for the low posts.

‘Kerri and Webbly [Emma Webb] worked tirelessly on defence and limited Hicksy and Emma Sykes to shooting opportunities from the three-point line.

‘Our final quarter did the damage. Again really pleased with the team performance – we didn’t panic and held our nerve.’

Man-to-man defence had worked wonders for Pumas in the dying minutes of the previous week’s match and, this time, it became their go-to approach to limiting Ravenscroft’s main threats.

Sykes topped Ravenscroft’s scoring at 11 but only landed one three-pointer, unlike her fantastic five from the previous week.

Experienced captain Hicks contributed 10 points and afterwards called it a ‘tough loss’.

‘I think Praxis realised from last week how effective their man-to-man defence was,’ she said.

‘They really pressured us with that all game and we struggled to get big points on the board.

‘Our main aim was to reduce their scoring and try and stop Gemma getting to the basket so much. We came away really pleased with our defensive effort but just couldn’t keep with them to finish.

‘Another great game though – we’re lucky to have such a competitive local league, especially when the Island players have the Guernsey Island Games in mind next year.’