Girls’ Basketball team qualify for Final 4’s

Oaklands College qualified for the Final 4s of the England Basketball National Schools Under 19 competition, with an assured away win 71-34 Burleigh Community College from Loughborough last week.

With Burleigh College having the inside presence of 6ft 3” England U16 squad member Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby, Oaklands decide to extend their defence from the start of the game and the pressure immediately paid dividends with Beccy Dodunski and others defending strongly.

Lizzy Harrison and then Alison Nicholls both scored off fast break opportunities and when Iona Allan added to the the Oaklands lead with a deep 3 pointer the score was already 17-2. The quarter ended with another transition basket from Harrison off an assist from Ellie Byrne with the score at 23-5.

Burleigh College started the second quarter looking far more assured and points from Ottewill-Soulsby and Destin cut the lead to 15 points. However another 3 point shot this time from Byrne and further points from Dodunski and Nicholls gave Oaklands a 38-14 half time lead.

The third quarter saw Burleigh College’s Fern Jackson start to show her perimeter shooting ability and she kept her team in contact hitting three deep 3 pointers. However Oaklands were able to maintain and then extend their lead with Aisha Abumarzouq joining her colleagues in the score-book and  Oaklands looked comfortable entering the final quarter leading 58-24.

The last quarter saw Kelly Chittock and Philippa Hill both get extended court time and as the clock ticked down Oaklands College were able to celebrate making their first ever English Schools National Final 4’s.

“It was great to see out guards playing so confidently today. Ellie Byrne controlled the game well, Beccy Dodunski looked to score and be aggressive throughout and Iona Allan was excellent pushing the ball in transition” commented Coach Ball.

The team will now be heading up to Nottingham to play in the English Schools National Finals 4’a taking place over the weekend of May 7th/8th.

The semi final draw is as follows:

Oaklands College v Barking Abbey School

Nottingham Academy v Greig City Academy

Scorers:

Lizzy Harison 18, Beccy Dodunski 17, Iona Allan 13, Alison Nicholls 9, Aisha Abumarzouq 6, Kelly Chittock 5, , Ellie Byrne 3, Philippa Hill