Manchester Mystics 153 Ilkeston Outlaws 26

In their first match of 2010 Ilkeston Outlaws women reached the nadir of their season with a crushing defeat at Manchester Mystics on Saturday, mainly due to unwittingly contravening a rarely administered rule of Basketball.

Without Katie Smith, who is on a year-long trip to Australia, Louise Bradley, Danielle Rowan and Katie McFarlane and due to face third-placed Mystics, Outlaws had prepared well, warmed up well and were ready to try to better their home performance against a very good Mystics side.

But all that intention and ambition was smashed as the match officials banned captain Becci Carter and forward Steph Thornton from taking court due to a minor technicality which Outlaws coach Paul Booth said he had never seen applied in 40 years in the game.

This left Outlaws without Carter, the heartbeat of the team and Thornton, their most experienced forward in an already very tough contest.

With their pre-game plan in tatters, Ilkeston succumbed 5-41 in the first quarter and 7-37 in the second.

Although Outlaws pulled themselves together for the second-half and played their hearts out, the depleted team was exhausted against the rampant Mystics.

Despite the efforts and leadership of point guard Natalie Lebeter they went down 8-37 in the third and 6-38 in the fourth for a massive 26-153 defeat.

Demi Drew, the baby of the team at 15-years-old, opened the scoring for Outlaws and continued to fire away from outside taking many more shots than any other Outlaws player and finishing with nine points.

Susan Hawes got away well on fast break and also scored nine points.

Natalie Lebeter was voted Most Valuable Player for her leadership in such a cauldron of a game.

On Sunday Outlaws travel to Sefton in a re-arranged fixture.

City of Birmingham 98

Ilkeston Outlaws U18 78

Another road trip but another defeat for the Ilkeston Outlaws under-18 team on Sunday at the Nechells Basketball centre in Birmingham.

Outlaws started well and took control of the first quarter leading all the way through.

At the halfway point they were seven points ahead and beating the home side on the break and closing down their offence effectively.

Birmingham rallied a little and pulled back to within four points by the first break.

The second quarter was more evenly matched as the teams slugged it out and at half-time there was still only a four point margin in favour of the home side.

The Outlaws’ big men Nick Calladine and Dan Hardy worked hard under the basket but slowly the bigger players coming off the Birmingham bench started to make their mark.

The game was still in the balance at the end of the third with the home side eight points up. But this was the point when the Birmingham fast breaking offence kicked into another gear that the Outlaws could not match.