Several new Plymouth College basketball players had their first 'blooding' in a double-header against Wellington School.
The senior boys were first on court, with coach Mr Robinson aiming to field as many of the regular players as possible. Substitutes flowed on and off at speed to keep the brakes on what could have been a runaway match.
Plymouth let convincingly from the end of the first quarter with a half time score of 16-6 firmly putting them in the lead. The second half saw all of the squad scoring freely from set-plays, notably an efficient one-three-one attack. However, Wellington found space inside the Plymouth defence and regained some ground but that didn't stop Plymouth rookies, Tom Turner and Michael Lin, scoring their first baskets at senior level. Captain Aidan Law, Jake Luffman, Sam Ng, Jeff Ma, Abdullah Hamza, Oli Foster and Michael Haley all added to the tally from field goals or the free-throw line. The game ended on an impressive 28-12 to Plymouth College.
Not be outdone by her male counterparts, Katharina Mager captained the girls to their first ever victory. At the end of a very tight first quarter the score settled on 4-4. But the Plymouth girls' persistent attack and sound passing routine found space inside a solid Wellington defence pushing the score to 6-4 in Plymouth's favour by half time. Their recently developed attacking strategy paid dividends as the girls drew steadily ahead in the second half to 8-6 and with two convincing driving moves to the basket, they finished off in style on 14-8. Scorers were Pauline Pfaff (6), Katharina Mager (6) and Catriona Walpole (2). Julia Hestermann, Danica Gamble, Mirian Goezze, Camilla Knoche and Maria Thaller all ably supported Plymouth's reliable passing game.
