Cambridge Cats Basketball Club

The first round of league games took place this weekend for both the Senior Cats 1 squad and the under 18 EBL Conference side, and it proved to be a successful one.

The Under 18's traveled to Southend Swifts on Saturday afternoon for their first EBL conference league game of the season and proved to be too strong for the Essex side. Cats U18's started the game on the front foot and got on top of swifts early winning the quarter 17 - 8. The second and third quarters were much tighter with swifts finding some rhythm, however the young Cats finished the 3rd quarter strongly to take a 14 point lead into the 4th quarter leading 41 - 27. The Cats then finished the game strongly and reinforced their dominance in the 4th quarter to secure a winning start to the season. The final score was 58 - 36 in favor of the Cats U18's

On Sunday the Senior Cats 1 had their first HPL league game of the season vs newly promoted side Stevenage Scorpions. The Big Cats got off to a strong start with J.Dexter hitting S. Richardson from the tip off for and early two handed dunk. This seem to set the tone for what was a dominant first half for the Big Cats leading 48 - 25 at the half. The second half saw much of the same with the stevenage side struggling to cope with the high intensity defense from the big cats. Stevenage kept fighting till the end and finished the game well with a good 4th quarter, however J.Dexter put the exclamation mark on the victory at the end of the 4th quarter when he drove baseline to finish with a one handed tomahawk slam on the helpless Stevenage defense. Final Score 89 - 61. Top scorers: S. Richardson - 21pts, J. Dexter - 19pts

Cambridge Cats 78 Littleport Lions 64

Cats 2 completed their final warm up match with an impressive victory over last seasons Cambridge League Playoff Finalists Littleport Lions.

Cats 2 jumped out to a double digit lead at the end of the first quarter and never looked back maintaining a significant lead through out the match.

Another strong defensive display prevented the Littleport outside shooters from getting hot and patient and thoughtful offense allowed Cats to maintain momentum.

Special mention to Darius who was monstrous on the drive and off the boards in the first half, and Lucas who lit up the offensive end of the court in the second half, culminating a 3 point buzzer beater to end the match!

Role on the League!

The Senior Cats 1st team opened the 2011-12 season with a blow out against Div 2 side Herts Warriors 2 in the Herts Cup. The Big Cats proved too strong for the young Warriors side in all departments and continued the excellent form they have shown in pre-season. S. Richardson led the way in scoring with 37 points 17 of which he scored in the first quarter. Player-coach P.Charlwood added 18 points in the second half including 4 three's in the final quarter.

Coach Charlwood said "We played some excellent defence at times tonight which meant we were able to get out in transition and get easy scores. I am really pleased how the team is shaping up so far this season, although we have a long way to go".

WE'RE BACK!!

The 2011-12 Season is upon us and Cambridge Cats is bigger and better than ever!! As training Sessions begin to re-start this week we are proud to announce that the club is now running completely out of St Bedes School which gives us the stable base that we need to continue to develop and move the club forward. In 2011-12 season we will be running a full Junior program ranging from U13 up to U18 level including two teams competing at England National League Conference U16 and U18 Level.

As the club continues to grow we now have two full Senior Male teams and a full Senior Ladies Team. The Senior Male 1st team and Ladies team will be competing once again in the Herts League's and the Senior Male 2nd Team will continue to compete in the Cambridge League.

Please check out the links below plus your individual team pages for further information on training times, 2011-12 confirmed fixtures, and fees for the coming season. Also download the 2011-12 signing on forms and bank standing order forms here.

I look forward to seeing you all this season and lets hope it's a successful one!

Cambridge Cats and Oxford Eagles after their final game of the season in the U18 National League, Southern Conference.

Not a one sided game by any means but Oxford were convincing victors, showing the form that places them firmly at the top of the table as this year's league champions.

Saturday 14th March. Cambridge Cats U16's gave coach Andrews Collins a winning send off as he takes a well earned rest from coaching . The Cats under 16's at home for their final game of the season against West Anglia Fury, started slowly, matching the Fury basket for basket in the first quarter. The game was tied at the end of Q1 ,but things changed

quickly as Cats applied pressure to the Fury guards and getting turnovers for easy lay-ups to build a solid lead at the way point in the game. The Fury didn't give up and came storming back in Q3 to make Q4 a difficult period for the Cats.

There was a certain feeling of unfinished business going into this game as the team had under-performed in last season’s cup run. Cats and Wellingborough had shared the honours in the league both winning their home tie and with this being a cup final game on a natural court it was much more than just ‘bragging rights’ to play for.

After a few nervy exchanges in the first minutes Wellingborough scored first and led the game 10 – 6 to the half way point of the first period, but the quarter belonged to Jack Dexter scoring 8 points to move the Cats to a 15-18 lead. With 8 unanswered points early in Q2, Wellingborough were in trouble and with the Cats defence proving difficult to break down, the lead was 27-41 at half time. With The Big Cats in control and the result now almost assured it was no surprise when Wellingborough came out from the break fighting to reduce the deficit. But the Cats were ready for this. The pressure on the ball defence released Walchina and Charlwood for easy layups that helped to keep the score moving. The fourth quarter was a mere formality with all Cats’ players taking to the court and maintaining the lead. With everyone in the team scoring - this was most definitely a team performance to bring home the Silverware.

Andrew Collins who has been coaching the clubs Under 16 National conference team has informed the club that developing personal commitments means he will unfortunately not be able to continue in the role, and that this Tuesday’s session 03 March 2009 would be the last midweek session and he will step down after last game of the season 15th March 2009. The Tuesday and Saturday sessions for this group will continue as normal under the direction of the head coach.

Andy joined us as a volunteer three years ago while the club was going through a transitional period. He acted as interim Chairman to see the club through a difficult time, gained his England Basketball level one and two coaching badge and has worked tirelessly to help move the club forward. The work with the under 16 group could not have moved forward without his tireless devotion, commitment to the players and attention to detail.

Andy stepping down is a blow, and the valuable experience that he gained over his time with the under 16s group is a loss for the club. However we can take great comfort from the good work that he has done for the club and moving the players in his group on from being near novices to competing in the National League Conference.

I would like to say great big thank you to Andy and also to his wife for the many hours of personal time that they have both given to the club. My best wishes are with him as he takes on new challenges with hope that while he takes a well earned rest from coaching he will be able to continue his contribution to the club in other ways.

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WE'RE BACK!!