Double for Fury’s under-14 teams at National Challenge

When Sony Centre Fury U14 Girls won the Scottish National Challenge on Sunday, it was not only the club’s seventh Scottish title of the season, but the win completed the set for both Fury U14 Boys and Girls teams as Scottish Cup Winners and Scottish National Challenge Champions in season 18-19.

In addition, Fury Under-10 Boys finished runners-up in the WLW National Challenge Invitation and, last week, the Fury U12 Boys and Girls finished third in their Scottish National Challenge Finals during a remarkable month.

Fury were one of only five Scottish clubs who qualified through Regional Leagues to reach all four National Challenge Finals, but were the only club to make the gold groups at the four finals.

Fury U14 Girls were also East/Central regular season Regional winners and were placed with Madsons and Ayr in their opening group games – winning 50-7 and 49-10. That placed Fury in the gold group for the top three places of the tournament.

In the gold group, Fury faced Glasgow Lady Rocks. In a close affair, the Falkirk side came out on top with a 36-32 win. In their final game, they played St Mirren. The game was tied at 20-20 after normal time – the game being decided on a golden basket (first team to score) and Fury’s Emily Dagger scored it for the win. Abby Reid from Fury was voted into the Tournament All Star 5.

Fury’s team on the day was: Chelsey Hughes, Emily Dagger, Sophie Cram, Abby Reid, Olivia Mitchell, Rose Tyrell, Amy Kelly, Eve Balloch, Raven Murray, Jodie Girvan and Lucy Brown. Coach Rebecca Lonsdale and assistant Jenna Beattie.

Their age group equivalents in the boys’ section continued their dominance of U14 basketball by landing the title with a winning of almost 40.

Fury were the East/Central Region top seed and at the National Challenge Finals, held in Dundee, faced the top other eight clubs in the country, who like Fury had progressed from the Regional Leagues held throughout the season.

With three groups of three, Fury defeated St Mirren 58-19 and Inverness Lions 46-22 in the group phase. Then, after a 19-point win over Glasgow Rocks in the gold section, they took the no 1 spot and the title with a 62-32 win over Madsons Dundee.

Fraser Smith from Fury was voted into the Tournament All Star 5 for his performances on the day.

Fury’s team on the day was: Andrew Mellville, Jack Shand, Leo Serafini, George Henderson, Robbie Gilmour, Fraser Smith, David Black, John Crozier, Harvey Berry and Ben Adams. Coach Dave Cooper.

The Fury Boys Under-10s were runners-up in their national challenge after playing some of their best basketball of the season. They were beaten by West Lothian Wolves in the final but Taylan Ertekin was voted into the Tournament All Star 5.

The Fury team: Taylan Ertekin, Daniel Small, Jay Bunyan, Jasio Urbanczyk, Harry Mason, Will Claydon, Roman Baillie, Aidan Tran, Blair Munnoch, Archie MacDougall, Mackenzie Ferguson. Coach Rachael Penman, assistant John Bunyan.