Important win for Ravens in title race

After Pumas knocked the serial Women’s Divisions champions off their perch last season to win their maiden title, the Ravens bit back with a hard-fought 51-47 victory at Beau Sejour on Friday night.

These two teams – alongside knockout winners Comets – are looking worthy contenders at this early stage of the campaign.

Ravens captain Emma Hicks knows that very well as her side target a return to the top of the league, plus a maiden knockout title.

‘Between the three of us, there’s really not much in it,’ she said.

‘We are all going to be fighting for the title and the knockout this year. It’s going to be close games and tough to fight out.’

Ravens struggled to get off the ground initially as the fast-breaking Pumas moved ahead to 6-2. The energetic and shrewd Jacenta Yu again proved a valuable scoring threat alongside Gemma Batiste on offence.

But Ravens drew back, equalising in dramatic fashion when Emma Hicks scored a well-timed basket to beat the shot clock, and soon edged just ahead as errors troubled the opposition. Sammie Cox and Jess Regnard were particularly impressive at low post.

Pumas finally hit their stride again to dominate the rest of the quarter and lead 18-12.

They soon build their lead to seven with a three-pointer from Yu, but Ravens managed to erase the deficit as Kat Daunt particularly shone, adding her own shot from ‘downtown’ and then fired her team level at 27-all going into half-time.

Ravens then started quarter three with eight points unanswered, combining great drives with a tight defence.

Although Pumas came back temporarily, another late three-pointer from Daunt made it 43-34 at the interval.

Aided by another Yu three-pointer, Pumas closed to four in the final quarter, but Ravens defended with great intensity to pull away again.

The black-and-whites did enough that a stunning three from Yu – her third of the match – in the dying seconds was merely a consolation for Pumas.

Yu headed the overall scoring tables with 16 points, from Batiste’s 14, while Ravens had enjoyed diverse contributions with Regnard’s 11 at the top of the pile.

‘We are really pleased,’ Hicks said.

‘It was a very difficult game – we knew, from the off, it was going to be physical, but that’s what we want with the Island Games next year.

‘But I think it was a great team performance.’

Pumas coach Robin Smith saw the downside to some of his substitution choices, which included resting Yu throughout quarter three.

‘We tried to run the bench to make sure we had enough energy at the end,’ he said.

‘In bits where we were running the bench, we probably lost some of the scoring.

‘They played brilliantly and it’s such a close league. I was disappointed, but it was so competitive – such great basketball.’

LMS Storm withstood a good fight from Pumas development in the previous Women’s Division match to win 39-26.

Imogen Collis had scored 10 points in quarter three, which her Pumas side won 16-6 to get back in contention, but it was not to be as Storm finished the stronger.

Vita Ogier, a league newcomer from Latvia, proved her worth with 14 points for Storm.

In Division Two, veteran Jeff Stuart scored 21 points for LMS Used as they beat Giants 72-42.